There’s a much delayed and controversial report listing the flaws of New York’s “new and improved” 911 phone system. There are many flaws I won’t get into here, but I would like to point out just the cost. The project has cost $2 billion. The entire annual budget of the NYPD is about $4.5 billion (NYPD and NYFD is about $6.1 billion). It’s bad enough that half the average police department is, in effect, sitting in a car waiting for the phone to ring. It’s even worse when the system costs as much as the officer.