Unclear on that whole "freedom" concept

The NYPD is investigating ways to disrupt cell-phone service to the entire city in the event of an emergency. They're apparently worried that bad guys will be able to communicate with each other too easily in a terrorist attack, a la the incident in India last year.

They're attempting to go down this route despite the availability of 2o-mile range walkie-talkies at any local Radio Shack which would easily have the capability to cover the New York metro area, and despite the fact that people wish to have access to cell phones during a crisis, which is why they pay large amounts of money to the phone companies for that privilege.

"Kelly stressed the need for law enforcement to be able to disrupt cell phone calls and other communications during an attack, pointing to threats posed by the media when they disclose law enforcement tactics during live coverage that can get passed back to the attackers"

Well, how about shutting down the media itself? That's roughly about as stupid as the idea of depriving New Yorkers of the chance to establish communications with loved ones during such a scenario.

The obvious way of solving this perceived problem is to simply ask the cell providers to voluntarily shut down themselves when asked. They'll never agree to do so, as they would immediately lose their sane customers, so that option is out.

One of the costs of living in a free society is that sometimes evildoers will take advantage of the freedoms that this country provides. That's no excuse for arbitrarily cutting them off whenever some police official deems it necessary, however.