>wouldn't it be cheaper to just give them all a GPS device and a mobile hotspot?
That's not really how public safety people think. How useful would a mobile hotspot be during, say, the Boston marathon bombings, when cell service was inoperable? Most likely they'll have multiple systems with different capabilities.
Considering the normal cell-system was shut-down by the operators due to fears about mobile-controlled IEDs (aka pressure cookers with archaic timing systems) it could be very useful, as long as the cell-system operators can discriminate on a device-level which we all know to be true at this point.
And who gives fig what "public-safety" people think if it's old-fashioned? They need to step their game up and gladly join our Total Information Awareness world. I'm not paying the taxes I am for some sort of half-assed sort-of-oppressing oppression. Why did they compromise the telcos so thoroughly if not for this exact purpose?
Fascismo with no joy in wielding its ultimate authoritarian stick is nothing worthwhile for these US of As. Gotta give that 110%, idolators of power and authority for their own sake...
That's not really how public safety people think. How useful would a mobile hotspot be during, say, the Boston marathon bombings, when cell service was inoperable? Most likely they'll have multiple systems with different capabilities.