[Scan-DC] Emergency personnel advise against publishing scanner traffic

[Bruce Harper]

On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 1:49 AM, Alan posted an article from Texas:

> Emergency personnel advise against publishing scanner traffic

As I read this, I was trying to decide if this was an op-ed piece
written by someone in law enforcement who is trying to hide things. It
is full of all the same arguments against the public being able to
monitor what their tax-supported police and emergency responders are
up to. There were lots of reasons and excuses about why listening to
public safety traffic is A Bad Thing. The only thing missing was a
call for an outright ban on scanners and smartphone scanner apps.
About the only valid point was that the "instant" reporting by media
outlets of an event without verification was a problem, but the
reasons to stop it don't reach the level of a monitoring ban. Whether
something is posted based on something heard on a scanner or from a
phone call to the news room requires a little journalist integrity --
but getting something "wrong" isn't a good reason to ban scanners and
listening.

This line bothered me:

> Police scanners provide useful information for breaking news coverage, but possessing the scanner is a privilege that law enforcement grants to the media.

I suppose in some cases this is true where a newspaper or TV station
obtains a digital trunked radio from a police department so some
communications can be monitored, but this is a pretty narrow case.
Otherwise, the airways are public and possessing anything that permits
receiving a broadcast is a basic right (granted, there have been some
restrictions stuck on this, such as the blocking of cell phone
frequencies). It is a little scary to read that "possessing the
scanner is a privilege" since that implies that at some point "law
enforcement" can revoke it. If people start to buy into this and
believe that open monitoring is something they shouldn't be doing,
then it isn't too far a step to see attempts to limit or ban access to
various means to monitor broadcasts.

Transparency, open access to open government, and a free media are
what keep elected and tax-supported officials honest.

Bruce in Blacksburg