[Scan-DC] Police: Encrypting scanners thwarted criminals

[Brian]

 I agree with all that you've said. It's really sad because encryption is a "feel good" move and does little, if anything, to improve the safety of first responders. 
There is an unbelievable amount of communication off-air, making encryption entirely unnecessary. Now, with cell phone prevalence, lots of traffic is handled via cell phone calls and text messaging - on both personal and department-issued cell phones.
Additionally, I can't count the number of times I've heard, "check your MDT (mobile data terminal) for further details". Sensitive information is sent right to the computer in the vehicle.
The point being, there are many ways to shield sensitive information without the unnecessary, and sometimes, expensive switch to encrypted radio traffic.
And one last comment: What many decision-makers continue to seemingly forget is interoperability. Encrypted traffic isn't easy to share with the radios of other agencies, especially with many of the agencies in this area (and most metropolitan areas) being multi-jurisdictional.


    On Wednesday, July 25, 2018, 9:07:18 AM EDT, Joseph M. Durnal <joseph.durnal at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Now that I know who Lindsey is, I’ll concur.

When I first found streaming online of scanner feeds I thought it was
great, but that was in the days before anyone and everyone was online.
Also,it used almost all of your bandwidth and CPU.  It did not occur to me
that one day it would contribute negatively to the hobby I enjoy.

It isn’t like the police didn’t know that their radio transmissions could
be heard by the public, but it was less of a concern because the public who
was listening would need to put some effort into it, purchasing the right
equipment, finding and programming the frequencies, etc.  These days, it
costs nothing, takes no effort, and zero know how to listen in on the
police.  If there is anything that works well for a criminal, it’s
something thy don’t have to pay for, put any effort into, and any idiot can
do.

I know my local departments are well aware of the public streams and they
know how to avoid it when they need to.  They even know some people and
addresses that are known to use scanner apps.  The anomaly is Frederick
City, which has been encrypted since I can remember.

On many occasions I’ve been able to take a different route to avoid police
activity.  Maybe there is some self serving in that I want to save myself a
few minutes, and I especially don’t want to drive through their man hunt
perimeter, and I’m sure they’d rather I didn’t either.

I suppose, it is what it is.  The next generation of radio enthusiasts will
have to settle for listening to hams and noaa weather.

J


On Tuesday, July 24, 2018, Scott, KB3JQQ via Scan-DC <
scan-dc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> Thank you Lindsey.
>
>      From: Alan Henney <alan at henney.com>
>  To: Scan DC <Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net>
>  Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2018 1:35 AM
>  Subject: [Scan-DC] Police: Encrypting scanners thwarted criminals
>
> New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester)
>
> 23 July 2018
>
> Police: Encrypting scanners thwarted criminals
>
>
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