Tired of your cell carrier dropping calls and not sending texts? At least you're not a San Francisco cop.
San Francisco police officers had a very tough time sending and receiving phone calls and text messages during last week's San Francisco 49ers game at Candlestick Park, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
Cops were "barely" able to communicate with one another during the two games, according to SFPD Chief Greg Suhr. The communication breakdown is an example of how in trouble the city could be in the event of a major earthquake or other disaster, Suhr said.
"Communications is always the thing [we do] that fails," Suhr said.
Suhr's comments came during testimony Wednesday for a Bay Area region-wide communications systems upgrade. That sounds nice, but of course there's a price.
The $100 million communication network would be known as BayWEB. It would be used only by the area’s public safety workers, the newspaper reported.
Motorola would build, maintain and operate the BayWEB with a $50 million federal stimulus grant, is part of a national effort to set up such communication systems after the 9/11 attacks.
The bill to San Francisco would be between $3-$7 million per year, a cost that supervisors delayed a vote on until more information could be gathered. Hopefully not via cell phone.
