More Police Departments are Encrypting Radio Communication:
"There are two types of encryption:
* Tactical: communication channels involving drug enforcement, gang enforcement, stakeout, or SWAT
* Full: all radio communication encrypted so no one can hear the day-to-day communication
Citizens with police scanners or scanner mobile apps could usually listen to two-way radio communications to hear the activity of their local law enforcement agency. With encryption becoming the norm, citizens are feeling out of the loop."
"The reason that police officers give for the encrypted radio waves lies in the idea of safety. Their main point is that criminals monitor police scanners so that they can pinpoint the officer's location, thus avoiding an arrest. Without public access, the police have a greater chance of apprehending a criminal."
"34 states already have some type of full police encryption. While the majority of police scanners will be silent for the public, fire, EMS, and other public safety organizations will still have open communication."
Encrypted Police Scanners Are Gaining Popularity Among Law Enforcement. What Does That Mean for Us?
As communities try to listen in on local police departments, some find theirs have turned to encrypted communications.
"But police departments and emergency communications directors who push for encryption have argued that publicly listenable airwaves make it easier for criminals to evade law enforcement, and also endanger officers."
"Some opt toward open channels over concerns that encryption might make cross-department or cross-agency communication more difficult. Joe Casey, of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, in Chicago, told Built In via email that the agency is "on schedule with a plan to secure public safety radio channels," but will nonetheless keep some frequencies unencrypted to allow outside agencies to communicate with the Chicago Police Department."
""There are legitimate privacy and safety concerns behind the decision to encrypt police communications, but that in and of itself does not give police departments carte blanche to encrypt all communication," Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, told the Santa Monica Daily Press in February. Police should be required to bring forth "quantifiable evidence" that their concerns are not merely hypothetical, while also being willing to revisit encryption decisions and take other transparency measures, he said."
"It certainly removes a level of transparency that's been inherent in public safety in the United States for 75 years."
* Tactical: communication channels involving drug enforcement, gang enforcement, stakeout, or SWAT
* Full: all radio communication encrypted so no one can hear the day-to-day communication
Citizens with police scanners or scanner mobile apps could usually listen to two-way radio communications to hear the activity of their local law enforcement agency. With encryption becoming the norm, citizens are feeling out of the loop."
"The reason that police officers give for the encrypted radio waves lies in the idea of safety. Their main point is that criminals monitor police scanners so that they can pinpoint the officer's location, thus avoiding an arrest. Without public access, the police have a greater chance of apprehending a criminal."
"34 states already have some type of full police encryption. While the majority of police scanners will be silent for the public, fire, EMS, and other public safety organizations will still have open communication."
Encrypted Police Scanners Are Gaining Popularity Among Law Enforcement. What Does That Mean for Us?
As communities try to listen in on local police departments, some find theirs have turned to encrypted communications.
"Some opt toward open channels over concerns that encryption might make cross-department or cross-agency communication more difficult. Joe Casey, of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, in Chicago, told Built In via email that the agency is "on schedule with a plan to secure public safety radio channels," but will nonetheless keep some frequencies unencrypted to allow outside agencies to communicate with the Chicago Police Department."
""There are legitimate privacy and safety concerns behind the decision to encrypt police communications, but that in and of itself does not give police departments carte blanche to encrypt all communication," Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, told the Santa Monica Daily Press in February. Police should be required to bring forth "quantifiable evidence" that their concerns are not merely hypothetical, while also being willing to revisit encryption decisions and take other transparency measures, he said."
"It certainly removes a level of transparency that's been inherent in public safety in the United States for 75 years."
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