Surprises

Surprises

by Mike Masnick


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Police Officers Lose Their Mobile Phones

from the no-more-calls dept

In a budget cutting effort, police in Oakland California are having their mobile phones taken away. Apparently, police on various beats were given mobile phones, which they used to stay in contact with people and organizations in the area they covered. It appears they gave out the numbers regularly, as they continually were dealing with incoming phone calls from residents reporting suspicious behaviors. So, not only were the phones removed for cost cutting reasons, but because the calls were beginning to become overwhelming. There is a reason that the police have a centralized dispatcher, and routing around it doesn't always make sense. While it is a nice idea to give residents direct communication tools with those patrolling their neighborhoods, without an efficient means of routing those calls, it's no surprise they quickly became overwhelming.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 

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  1. police and cell phones

    by Gary - Jul 12th, 2004 @ 7:46am

    Police having cell phones allowed them to communication with other officers without there converstations being recorded over the air.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Re: police and cell phones

    by Anonymous Coward - Jul 12th, 2004 @ 11:15am

    so what ?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Re: police and cell phones

    by msykes - Jul 12th, 2004 @ 1:15pm

    I'm sure if all the police officers wanted to do was talk to other officers over the air without being recorded they could just go ahead and use their personal cell phones.

    msykes

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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