[Scan-DC] Richmond police chief calls encrypting radio traffic a safety matter;
Alan Henney
alan at henney.com
Thu Jun 28 00:51:36 EDT 2018
Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)
June 27, 2018 Wednesday
2 Edition
Richmond police chief calls encrypting radio traffic a safety matter;
Richmond police chief and communications director explain decision to
encrypt radio traffic, emphasize transparency
BYLINE: ALI ROCKETT Richmond TimesDispatch
SECTION: MAIN; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 531 words
The Richmond Police Department's decision to encrypt its radio traffic was
a matter of officer safety and not an attempt to circumvent transparency,
the city's police chief told media representatives on Tuesday.
The department, along with the Chesterfield and Henrico police, will be
encrypting radio transmissions starting Monday, meaning that the public and
media will no longer be able to listen to or monitor law enforcement
activity. Up until then, police had dispatched and communicated on open
channels that could be overheard through scanners and online services. This
meant that tactics and personal information were shared in real time, which
officials said put their officers and their operations at risk.
"We are not trying to hide anything," Police Chief Alfred Durham said in
his first public comments on the issue. "This is about officer safety."
Durham cited a March 22 standoff that closed Interstate 95/64 for more than
two hours while an armed man refused to surrender.
"A lot of that radio traffic was being communicated over the airwaves to
the citizens from a few of the media outlets and that compromises our
tactical decision-making and what's going on at the scene," he said.
Critics worry that ending access to these transmissions could affect the
media's ability to alert local residents of emergencies and other public
safety concerns. At the meeting Tuesday, Durham noted the importance of
notifying the public of crimes that could affect them, and emphasized his
commitment to doing so.
The Department of Emergency Communications, which dispatches 911 and
emergency calls to area police, fire and medical responders, has set up a
live feed on its website that will list active calls. The website will be
available Monday. Chesterfield and Henrico counties have already activated
similar sites - which can be found at www.chesterfield.gov/
activepolicecalls and http://randolph.co.henrico.va.us/activecalls.
The Richmond feed, which updates every 45 seconds and goes live Monday,
will provide the time, date and general location for all calls for service,
the responding agency and the status of the incident. The department is
also planning to produce a Twitter feed of some of the higher-priority
incidents.
"We believe that this is actually going to provide you better information
or more comprehensive information than what you get from monitoring scanner
traffic," said DEC Director Stephen M. Willoughby.
Richmond also plans to alert media of high-priority incidents, such as
shootings, stabbings, homicides and accidents with injuries, via a group
text messaging system. A police watch commander will be able to send the
message to media representatives once they are on scene and have assessed
the situation.
The Capital Regional Communication System Steering Committee has been
discussing the change to encryption for some time, as it is planning to
update the system. The move is not costing the city, or any of the other
localities, anything. "This is a functionality feature that was already in
the system," Willoughby said - nor does it affect the interoperability
between departments.
arockett at timesdispatch.com(804) 649-6527Twitter: @AliRockettRTD
GRAPHIC: Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham spoke about keeping the public
informed after police radio traffic is encrypted on Monday. SHELBY
LUM/TIMES-DISPATCH Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham spoke about keeping
the public informed after police radio traffic is encrypted on Monday.
SHELBY LUM/TIMES-DISPATCH Stephen M. Willoughby, director of the Department
of Emergency Communications, talks to media representatives about the
decision to encrypt radio channels and the methods that will be used to
keep the public informed on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. SHELBY
LUM/TIMES-DISPATCH Stephen M. Willoughby, director of the Department of
Emergency Communications, talks to media representatives about the decision
to encrypt radio channels and the methods that will be used to keep the
public informed on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. SHELBY LUM/TIMES-DISPATCH
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