[Scan-DC] Public ears won't hear police radios ;

[Alan Henney]

Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

December 16, 2012 Sunday

Public ears won't hear police radios ; 
Groups worry about possibility that media may be deaf to crime reports

BYLINE: Naomi Martin and Ramon Antonio Vargas Staff writers

SECTION: METRO; Pg. B 01

LENGTH: 672 words

First-responder agencies in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes are preparing to encrypt all emergency radios in the upcoming weeks.

While emergency response chatter is currently accessible to members of the public through commercial scanners, websites and mobile apps, the new encrypted system will leave out anyone authorities do not wish to include.

Police say they need to take the step because criminals could, in theory, gain a leg up on police by listening to the scanners, which is a safety issue for officers on patrol. 

But a police union and a crime-prevention group say they are not aware of any such incidents and are nervous about the news media losing the ability to monitor real-time response to incidents and emergencies.

"If you don't get it in real time, then you're relying on what you're told happened instead of being there to see what's happening," said NOPD Commander Mike Glasser, president of a local union, the Police Association of New Orleans.

Authorities have not made it clear whether they plan to provide the news media a key by which they can access the encrypted system. If the media is allowed access, however, it would be possible for police to change that status with the flip of a switch, Glasser warned.

The current system, unveiled in 2007, operates on multiple frequencies and permits first responders in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes to communicate merely by switching their radios to designated group channels. The $32 million system was mostly paid for with federal disaster aid and other federal grants following Hurricane Katrina.

Police at crime scenes started noticing their transmissions were being picked up by cell phone applications, according to Kenneth Hughes, New Orleans regional communications coordinator for the Department of Homeland Security.

"You now have free apps which allow anyone to hear the police call being dispatched, even the bad guys," Hughes said in an email. That "safety issue," coupled with the software being offered to the region free of charge, drove the move to encrypt, Hughes said, noting radio encryption is by no means a new concept. Motorola provided the encryption software at no cost, officials said.

In the case of major events, such as the Super Bowl or hurricanes, the encryption will be shut off so outside first-responders assisting local authorities could communicate with each other, Hughes said.

At a time when NOPD is preparing to implement an unprecedented consent decree governing reforms at an agency that has been plagued by complaints of misconduct and excessive use of force, Glasser voiced concerns about the news media and other watchdogs being possibly shut out from listening to day-to-day operations.

"It is, in fact, the manner in which police operate that has come under so much scrutiny and been the subject of so much criticism," the PANO president said. "I think it's important the media -- and the public, through the media -- can view how police address the problems they're faced with in real time so they have an accurate appreciation of what is working and what isn't."

Glasser also called attention to administrators' promises of "transparency."

"We invite people to our (commanders') meetings. We invite people to our (neighborhood safety) meetings in the districts. Why shouldn't the media have access to real-time incidents as they're occurring?" Glasser said. "I think that would be consistent with the strategy of transparency in gaining the trust of the public."

However, not everyone thinks limiting the audience to police transmissions is a bad idea. Raymond Burkart III, attorney and spokesman for the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge, says non-encrypted transmissions could "present a grave officer safety issue," such as if an active shooter or a barricaded suspect were using a scanner to react to responding cops' maneuvers.

"It can present a citizen safety issue," too, Burkart said.

INFOBOX:

Story by

Naomi Martin and Ramon Antonio Vargas

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune