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Huge Security Conference Held In San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) --- On Monday, the streets near San Francisco's Union Square filled with bomb squad rigs, armored personnel carriers, and a bus-sized ambulance for a three-day urban security conference.

Probably the largest item was a bus ambulance that carries two dozen people, said Ed Sarton who sells them.

"It's used for transporting patients to or from a disaster scene - a school bus accident, an industrial accident, a nursing home that loses power or has flooding potential," he said.

Steve Roberson sells robots that San Francisco Police Department bomb squad uses regularly. Roberson claims they also save lives in Afghanistan and Iraq.

KCBS' Tim Ryan Reports:

"They go out ahead of personnel and they locate and neutralize improvised explosive devices that are there to restrict movement," he said.

Kelly Huston with the California Emergency Management Agency said it's all about better communication.

"There's a lot of sophisticated equipment here from satellite systems that allow us to interconnect and transmit video and images to systems that go all the way back to 9/11 which is how does the fire department talk with the police department and the sheriff's department," he said.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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