Baltimore police introduced yesterday a new, sleek mobile command post to respond to emergencies ranging from a missing child or hostage situation to a train derailment or, in the worst case, a terrorist attack.

Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris said the high-tech vehicle will make police more nimble in everyday law enforcement and "show the flag" in troubled areas.

"It takes us from the 19th to the 21st century. We can actually go to the scene and do our work. Anything we do now we can do from this post," Norris said as he described its capabilities. "Run arrest warrants, check names and fingerprints, link up with [police helicopter] Foxtrot, and link up with federal agencies like the FBI and the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms]. It's the finest of its kind."

It's also a first for Baltimore, Norris and Mayor Martin O'Malley were quick to point out yesterday as they toured the specially equipped MT-55 Freightliner truck by the Inner Harbor waterfront.

The truck, which has computers, surveillance cameras, plasma screens and sophisticated communications equipment, cost nearly $900,000 and was paid for with private, state and federal funds.

Forty-five-feet long with satellite masts that extend up to seven stories, the vehicle is an emblem of enhanced preparedness meant to make a big impression on street criminals, O'Malley and Norris said.

"There is absolutely no reason why we as a free people should ever allow drug dealers to have the upper hand with technology and tools," O'Malley said. "It's one more example of how we're enabling and backing up our Police Department to achieve its mission."

"Interoperability," a term O'Malley used, means the command post's communications capacity gives it access to federal agencies -- an asset especially valuable after Sept. 11.

Plans for the command post were made before terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. On Memorial Day weekend last year, Norris and police officers rushed to the scene of a dozen shootings at a party on East North Avenue, where the commissioner ordered a mobile command unit.

"I was waiting, waiting, waiting on a dark, rainy night for a New York-type truck to roll up," Norris said. None came because there wasn't one in the Police Department.

That surprise prompted Norris, who came to Baltimore from New York, to approach the nonprofit Baltimore Police Foundation, which contributed $300,000. Federal funds made up most of the balance needed to buy a crime-fighting tool police officials said is in demand across the country.

The mayor and Norris seem to believe the vehicle will bring some less tangible benefits and boost morale.

"The [police] image was not great a short time ago," Norris said. "When I got here, there was no technology at all. They were showing photos from shoeboxes and loose-leaf binders. Now we've gone way beyond that."

The idea is to use the vehicle often, not only for crisis situations or special events.

"If there's an eruption of violence, it sends a message. It's big. And I want people to see it, I want them to know what we have," Norris said.

When the command post is not being deployed, it will be stored in a secret location, officials said.

Work on the black exterior with a bold blue stripe design was donated by the Campbell Group, a travel and tourism advertising agency. Police Col. John Pignataro oversaw the high-tech installations.

When Norris was asked what equipment he liked best, he joked, "The coffeepot."

Sun staff writer Julie Hirschfeld Davis contributed to this article.