In the movie The Dark Knight, Gordon says Batman often doesn’t show up when the bat signal is on, he mostly turns it on to to remind criminals that Batman is out there.
In the comic The Dark Knight Returns, Gordon says there’s about a dozen different ways Gordon could contact Batman, but he uses the Bat Signal for similar reasons.
So it’s mostly just for theatrics, if it were a real emergency Gordon would phone up Batman. But I guess it’s a way to indicate to Batman “let’s talk whenever you’re not busy”.
In the movie The Dark Knight, Gordon says Batman often doesn’t show up when the bat signal is on, he mostly turns it on to to remind criminals that Batman is out there.
In the comic The Dark Knight Returns, Gordon says there’s about a dozen different ways Gordon could contact Batman, but he uses the Bat Signal for similar reasons.
So it’s mostly just for theatrics, if it were a real emergency Gordon would phone up Batman. But I guess it’s a way to indicate to Batman “let’s talk whenever you’re not busy”.