[Scan-DC] Police to go radio silent

[Andrew Clegg]

The radio salesmen who tell them this stuff should be charged with fraud:

"Digital radios convert voices into computerized signals that are transmitted to another radio or scanner where the signals are converted into a voice transmission.

"They can be transmitted much farther than analog radio signals and aren't stopped by walls and other physical barriers, although such barriers can degrade signal strength."

> On Jun 28, 2016, at 2:12 AM, Alan Henney <alan at henney.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Rockford Register Star (Illinois)
> 
> June 25, 2016 Saturday
> 
> LAW ENFORCEMENT; 
> Police to go radio silent
> 
> SECTION: IL NEWS; Pg. 1
> 
> LENGTH: 756 words
> 
> imminent law enforcement activity and compromise investigations.
> 
> The change to encrypted channels involves reprogramming police radios at virtually no cost, O'Shea said.
> 
> Plans are for the department to continue keeping a police blotter, Facebook page and Twitter feed to disseminate information to the public.
> 
> O'Shea said the department plans to establish a dedicated news media hotline and create a 911 call log that journalists and the public can use to monitor criminal and police activity. 
> 
> It has not been determined how often the log will be updated and published. And O'Shea said it will be scrubbed of calls, such as child sex crimes and "certain domestics," the police department determines are inappropriate to publish.
> 
> "With what we are putting in place, I feel very comfortable it won't decrease our transparency," O'Shea said.
> 
> Don Craven, an attorney for the Illinois Press Association, said the shift to encrypted police communications is becoming more common in the state and in jurisdictions across the country.
> 
> Police encryption raises the chance that the police department itself becomes the sole source of news and information about crime, he said.
> 
> "It's going to make it very difficult to have immediate knowledge of what's going on," Craven said. "I'm not sure if this was designed to keep nosy reporters from knowing what's going on, or if that's an aftereffect."
> 
> Mayor Larry Morrissey said he supports the chief's decision. Morrissey said transparency remains a priority, noting that he had instituted public accountability forums like Compstat and Rockstat to disseminate more information and data about police and city operations to the public.
> 
> "The chief is going to work on ways to ensure there is a good dissemination of data about what's happening in our radio calls and to make sure there is a timely release about what's in our calls and what's gong on," Morrissey said. "We don't want there to be a perception that there is a barrier -- for the media or for private citizens -- to know what we're doing."
> 
> Rockford police already use encrypted digital radio signals for tactical purposes, SWAT or other sensitive operations. The new directive will move even day-to-day police radio traffic to encrypted channels.
> 
> Rockford police in 2008 and 2009 spent $536,000 to upgrade to a digital communications network on grounds that it would increase officer safety by improving radio reception. Digital radios convert voices into computerized signals that are transmitted to another radio or scanner where the signals are converted into a voice transmission.
> 
> They can be transmitted much farther than analog radio signals and aren't stopped by walls and other physical barriers, although such barriers can degrade signal strength.
> 
> Rockford police are dispatched from a 911 center that also dispatches for Rockford fire and for some nearby emergency agencies who contract with the center. Rockford firefighters operate on a separate analog radio system from the Rockford police digital system.
> 
> The Winnebago County Sheriff's Department operates its own analog dispatch system for deputies.
> 
> Winnebago County Chief Deputy Mark Karner said that Sheriff Gary Caruana supports O'Shea's move to an encrypted communications system.
> 
> Karner said the Sheriff's Department's analog communications system is obsolete and nearing the end of its useful life. Plans are replace it with the Starcom 21 system Rockford is using.
> 
> He said the plan is to go to encrypted transmissions in the interests of police officer safety when the change is made.
> 
> Karner said that shifting to encryption would prevent criminals from using technology to monitor and thwart law enforcement efforts while preventing the chance someone could obtain private information that could be used in identity theft.
> 
> Scanner and radio enthusiast Joe Mattern, 51, of Orlando, Florida, in 2010 founded an organization called " Concerns About Radio Encryption" to fight police encryption in Florida that damaged his enjoyment of listening to emergency radio transmissions as he had since he was boy.
> 
> He said many departments across the country are moving to encrypted systems even though there is little evidence it improves officer safety.
> 
> "Encrypt for tactical reasons, use it for your SWAT, and drug stings, but there is no reason, when taxpayers are paying for radios, to encrypt routine dispatch scanner traffic," Mattern said.
> 
> Staff writers Kristen Zambo and Isaac Guerrero contributed to this report.
> 
> --Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey at rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey
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