Ultimately, it's the government that mediates the dispute. They're the government's airwaves and you (the cell phone provider) receive a license to use them. I haven't read the relevant FCC regulations, but they can easily say "cell phone service is secondary; law enforcement is primary".
There is precedent: amateur radio operators can use any means available to them to transmit life-critical messages when licensed methods/frequencies don't work. If that was to set up a fake cell phone tower and get phones to connect, then one could argue that one was using the frequencies legally. (IANAL; don't do this and say I said it was OK. The usual case is something like using your amateur radio to contact the coast guard if your ship is sinking.)
Comments
Ultimately, it's the government that mediates the dispute. They're the government's airwaves and you (the cell phone provider) receive a license to use them. I haven't read the relevant FCC regulations, but they can easily say "cell phone service is secondary; law enforcement is primary".
There is precedent: amateur radio operators can use any means available to them to transmit life-critical messages when licensed methods/frequencies don't work. If that was to set up a fake cell phone tower and get phones to connect, then one could argue that one was using the frequencies legally. (IANAL; don't do this and say I said it was OK. The usual case is something like using your amateur radio to contact the coast guard if your ship is sinking.)