Sedona police officers who are dispatched to emergency calls, burglary alarms, reports of violent acts in progress and for welfare checks on seniors or homebound residents often need to enter some of Sedona’s dozen gated communities.
The SPD received a donation from a resident of a gated community — who wanted to remain anonymous — to purchase customized Mobile Preemption Emitters to enter gated communities, which are now installed in every SPD patrol vehicle.
“The strobes emit a light pattern that is read by a sensor on or near a gate for a secured area,” SPD Lt. Karl Waak said. The strobe triggers an emergency feature that opens the gate. “With the donation, we were able to get enough to purchase 20 units so every patrol officer and detective has one issued to them. The units were approximately $425.”
Waak said the devices are built on an aluminum flashlight chassis and are quite rugged, and will likely have a long lifespan before needing to be replaced.
“The donor saw a problem when we officers were trying to enter a neighborhood,” Waak said. “They contacted an officer and found out what the difficulty was, which resulted in their generous donation. I cannot say why the donor wanted to remain anonymous, but it is just another example of the community support we enjoy at the Sedona Police Department.”
The emitters are not available to the general public. They are only sold to federal, state and local governments and to police and fire agencies, according to Priority Green, and have a range of 300 to 500 feet. Because they are portable, they can be used from parked patrol vehicles or by police officers on foot.
“Prior to having the emitters, we were climbing fences, waiting for someone with access to happen by or waiting for Sedona Fire to assist by using their emitters,” Waak said. “Without being able to respond in a patrol vehicle, officers had to leave their necessary equipment at a distance and respond to calls on foot.”
“The time saved on calls by being able to access gated areas can range from seconds to minutes based on the size of the neighborhood,” Waak said. “In a medical scenario, any amount of time saved is valuable as we can arrive to such calls ahead of Sedona Fire and can start lifesaving measures before they get on scene.”
