Vancouver's top cop says the city's new state-of-the-art mobile command centre will be used to better police high-profile events, but it will also be valuable for tracking down lost children.
"We need to set up a command post close to the location the child went missing from."
Chief Jim Chu is talking about a specially-equipped van that will serve as a base for police --and volunteers-- taking part in a search.
"Now, the commanders of those situations will be able to record information on white boards. They'll be able to coordinate the efforts of everybody. By doing that, they'll increase the likelihood of finding that missing child much earlier."
The main purpose will be dealing with emergencies including crowd control at the annual Celebration of Light fireworks, as well as a possible repeat of the 1994 and 2011 Stanley Cup riots.
The Vancouver Police Foundation provided most of the funding for the 500-thousand dollar vehicle.
VPD Foundation with new VPD mobile command centre