[Scan-DC] Public Safety; Scanners to be silenced

[Alan Henney]

Some interesting quotes from this article.  Anybody hear about C.A.R.E.?


Rockford Register Star (Illinois)

July 31, 2016 Sunday

Public Safety; Scanners to be silenced

BYLINE: Jeff Kolkey Staff writer

SECTION: IL NEWS; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 793 words

ROCKFORD -- The Rockford Police Department will switch all radio communications to fully encrypted digital channels starting at 6:30 a.m. Monday.

News organizations and residents who have for decades monitored police communications to stay abreast of real-time police activity, emergencies and crime will no longer hear routine police dispatch traffic.

Rockford Police Chief Dan O'Shea says that encrypting all police radio traffic will keep officers safer, prevent criminal suspects from learning about police activities ahead of time, and protect the privacy of residents and crime victims. 

"When I came here, it was one of the first things I wanted to address," O'Shea said. "Police radio communication being open is a big concern for me and for officer safety."

Sensitive tactical, SWAT and special operations communications have been transmitted over encrypted channels that the public can't monitor ever since digital radios were purchased for the Rockford Police Department in 2008 and 2009.

But routine dispatch channels remained open. Often, officers and commanders used their cellphones or mobile computer terminals to transmit sensitive information, knowing that radio communications were not private.

Now, for the first time in Rockford, even traditionally public police radio traffic -- one of few streams of unfiltered information about law enforcement activity -- will shift to encrypted channels that cannot be monitored.

It is a move being adopted by police departments across the nation despite little evidence that it improves police safety, said Joe Mattern, 51, of Orlando, Florida, a radio scanning hobbyist, who in 2010 founded an organization called C.A.R.E. -- Concerns About Radio Encryption.

Mattern encouraged residents to speak up and tell elected representatives they are against encryption. An electronic petition started by the Rockford Scanner website has garnered more than 1,200 signatures opposed to encryption. Rockford Scanner founder Rickie Traeger declined an interview request and did not answer questions emailed to him by the Rockford Register Star.

Mattern argues that encryption ultimately hurts public safety.

Encryption "prevents citizens, first responders and the news media from listening to routine dispatch communications, which can alert those who monitor that potential harm is approaching," Mattern said in an email to the Rockford Register Star. "An example of this would be an armed home invasion and or a rapid moving severe weather event, such as a tornado.

"Law enforcement agencies often use the tagline 'officer safety' when migrating to full-time radio encryption, when what they really mean is 'we despise the news media.' "

O'Shea said the move to encryption is not intended to stymie news reporters. Rockford police will continue to maintain an arrest log, blotter and social media channels.

They are also providing news organizations with a dedicated media phone line answered by commanders and an hourly dispatch call log to assist with newsgathering.

The log will be scrubbed of sex assaults, domestic violence, some juvenile crimes and child abductions.

Officers will flip a switch Monday morning that allows them to transmit on scrambled frequencies. It will take several days to upload software that will fully and permanently encrypt the department's roughly 500 radios, Assistant Deputy Chief Patrick Hoey said.

Hoey said the dispatch log, media line and social media channels should be sufficient to keep the public informed about crime and police activity.

"This will become the new normal," Hoey said.

For now, Winnebago County sheriff's deputies will continue to use standard emergency radio communications for routine calls, but the technology is becoming outdated and reaching the end of its useful life, Chief Deputy Mark Karner said.

Sheriff's police will shift to a digital and fully encrypted system once smaller agencies throughout Winnebago County upgrade to the technology. The plan is to be fully digital and encrypted throughout the county by 2017, Karner said.

"We believe there is an officer safety issue solved by encryption," Karner said.

"Sheriff (Gary Caruana) has made it very clear he supports the move to encryption."

The key is to balance police officer safety concerns with the need to inform the public about the actions of their government and police department, said Lawrence DiRe, civic engagement and research director for Open Local Illinois, an open government advocacy group.

"There is a tradition there of information transmitted over radio being available to the public," DiRe said.

"That's a valuable tradition. At the same time, it has to be balanced against police officer and public safety."

--Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey at rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey