The council granted the emergency purchase after it learned the Police Department's backup power supply could fail during a rolling blackout. The city had planned to buy a new backup power supply, known as a uninterrupted power system, next year. The purchase was pushed up to this month after the department tested its current backup system. The backup power supply essentially is a bunch of batteries strung together, said Lt. Doug Dodge, a detective who oversaw the recent expansion of the Police Department.
Police also have their own generators for emergencies.
The batteries are used to make sure computers, lights and phones continue to operate until the generators are turned on, Dodge said. If the emergency generators could not be started within that time, the whole department would lose power, he said. The center where 911 calls are taken was not in danger of losing power during the test, said Rosemary Howser, police spokeswoman. However, if the call center did lose power because of some catastrophic accident, all calls would be transferred immediately to the dispatch center at California State University, Stanislaus, Dodge said.