Police Jamming Cell Phones

I have heard from more than one person that police in Oakland have been jamming cell phones.

It appears that the jamming is being done in a very localized area around protesters (perhaps no more than a block), but the jamming prevents text message to be sent and pictures to be snapped from cell phones.

One friend told me he was on an Oakland bus, when he saw the protesters and he took out his phone to snap some pictures but his phone would not allow him to snap pictures. He then noticed someone else on the bus who had the same problem with another cell phone.

Another friend told me that he tried to take a picture as a group of protesters passed by, while he was on the sidewalk.  But he said his phone became functional immediately after the protesters passed him.

The reports of the jamming of text messages I have seen on social media sites.

It is not clear if the jamming effects phone calls.

-RW