They have been looking at that for many years; two sheriffs ago in fact. Chatting with a couple of radio techs in the area, it sounds like the SO and some of the county PDs are looking at adding P25 capability. Sounds like it's still in the discussion stage though. As to CRIS, I heard there are issues in the mountainous areas of California.
Correct - CRIS as of now is pretty much mobile radio coverage only. Looking at their "current" map and reading their docs, they're not guaranteeing portable coverage except in LA (maybe there was somewhere else too). I'm sure they'll build it out but if I were an agency shopping for a system, that would be my first reservation depending on current status of the buildout.
They could still build out a "Merced County" site and connect it to the CRIS core. This would save them a good amount of money and perhaps allow them to get some spectrum and back haul infrastructure from the state. This is the 'system of systems' approach and has been very beneficial to cash strapped municipalities in other states with wide area systems.
