[Scan-DC] Denver police could be next to go silent as more Colorado agencies encrypt their radio traffic

[Alan Henney]

Colorado Daily: University of Colorado at Boulder

November 2, 2018 Friday

Denver police could be next to go silent as more Colorado agencies encrypt
their radio traffic

BYLINE: Elise Schmelzer The Denver Post

SECTION: CU-BOULDER; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 1885 words

The public may no longer be able to listen to Denver police radio
communications if the department moves forward with a proposal to encrypt
all of its radios in the coming months, the latest in a string of Colorado
law enforcement agencies to consider blocking the public from listening to
officers and dispatchers communicate in real time.

A final decision about encryption has yet to be made, Denver Police Chief
Paul Pazen said. Police need the encryption to keep personal information
about victims or people who call 911 from being broadcast on publicly
accessible channels, he said. Police have also found suspects who have used
scanners to monitor police communications to commit crime and avoid arrest,
he said.

"We need to balance these public safety needs and the very real need for
transparency," Pazen said.

But encryption, if implemented, would hinder news reporters' ability to
monitor breaking news situations and reduce news organizations' ability to
act as watchdogs over police, representatives for news media and advocates
for public access to governmental records said. As an increasing number of
Colorado agencies encrypt, the public loses oversight over the law
enforcement agencies they fund, they said.

"The department becomes a filter for what gets out there and what doesn't
get out there," said Jeffrey Roberts, executive director of the Colorado
Freedom of Information Coalition. Advertisement

Denver is the latest Colorado police agency to consider encrypting their
communications as new technology and phone apps make it easier than ever
for the public to listen. At least 28 agencies in the state - including
five in the Denver metro area - already encrypt all of their radio traffic.

Radio encryption is nothing new and is commonly used during surveillance or
drug operations, said Rick Myers, executive director of the Major Cities
Chiefs Association. But new digital radio technology makes it easier and
cheaper to block outside listeners.

"It is problematic during a time when policing is trying to rebuild
community trust to introduce elements that create barriers with the
public," Myers said in an email. "However, the balance must be officer
safety, protecting privacy rights ... and effective delivery of service."

"This isn't a black and white, right or wrong issue," he said. "It is
complex."

Striking a balance

Police in Thornton, Arvada, Aurora, Lakewood, Westminster, Greeley and Fort
Collins have already encrypted their radios. Police scanners in Longmont
went silent at the end of September while the police tested a "pilot
program" of the encryption. The pilot program has no end date. Broomfield
police submitted a memo to their city council in September outlining their
plans to encrypt. Loveland also has considered encryption.

No specific incident prompted Denver police to consider encryption, Pazen
said. Instead, department leaders thought the opening of a new 911
communications center would be a good time to implement the change, if
desired. Denver police already use encrypted channels for investigations
and other sensitive operations, but most communication takes place on the
public transmissions.

Pazen reached out to his commanders while considering the decision and
asked whether public access to radio traffic had created challenges for
them.

Wanted persons and suspects have been caught using scanner technology, he
said. And information about victims involved in sensitive crimes, like
domestic violence, was broadcast. Denver Police dispatcher Raymond Rowland
works at his station on Thursday, November 1, 2018. (AAron Ontiveroz / The
Denver Post)

"I was a little bit surprised that we had many different examples of how
this information is out there being used," he said.

Pazen acknowledged that encrypting the radio channels would create concerns
about transparency, he said. That's why he invited representatives from
news associations to a meeting on Monday to discuss potential solutions. He
said it was premature to discuss what some of those solutions might be.

"We're not just forcing this through," he said.

If the department moves forward with encryption, the radios would go silent
to the public in the next six months as the new 911 communications center
opens and the radios are programmed, Pazen said.

The Denver Fire Department is not planning to encrypt its tactical radio
channels used for daily operations, department spokesman Greg Pixley said.
However, firefighters would have to use the police department's encrypted
channels if they want to communicate between the two agencies.

The recent growth in agencies using encryption is due to two factors,
Myers, of the chiefs association, said.

Agencies are switching to modern digital systems that make encryption
cheaper and easier. Simultaneously, the introduction of hundreds of smart
phone apps that allow people to listen to radio traffic through the
internet anywhere in the country means that more people are listening in,
Myers said.

The discussion surround encryption is not new to law enforcement, said
Chris Johnson, director of County Sheriffs of Colorado. He personally
opposed switching to encryption while he worked as sheriff of Otero County
because he believed "the public had a right to hear part of the traffic,"
he said. But he also understood the argument that some information
shouldn't be transmitted.

"There's an argument on both sides in my personal opinion," he said, noting
that the sheriffs association had not taken an official stance on the issue.

Nothing in particular prompted Broomfield police to seek encryption, police
spokeswoman Joleen Reefe said. Instead, it was a culmination of events,
including when news reporters in 2017 used information from police radios
in stories about the murder of a 4-year-old boy before investigators were
ready to release that information, she said.

If Broomfield police encrypt their radios - which would cost about $230,000
- reporters and the public can instead look to the department's social
media for information, Reefe said.

"The information will be put out in a timely manner on our social media
channels," Reefe said. "In my mind, timely can be anywhere from 10 minutes
to 35 or 40 minutes"

But relying on official news releases, whether on social media or email, is
problematic for news reporters, media representatives said.

Press oversight

Since Longmont's radios were encrypted in late September, Longmont
Times-Call reporter Madeline St. Amour has struggled to track fast-moving
public safety issues in her community. The Longmont newspaper is owned by
the same parent company that owns The Denver Post.

Earlier this month, a man pointed a gun at a woman in Boulder and stole her
car. The man then drove to Longmont, where law enforcement noticed the car
and attempted to pull it over. Instead, the driver fled and then crashed
into another vehicle in a residential area before running away through the
neighborhood. Longmont High School and a hospital were put on lock out.
Police set up a perimeter and searched the area, but didn't find the
suspect, who has not been arrested.

The only reason St. Amour knew about the chase and manhunt is because she
picked up traffic on the Boulder County Sheriff's Office radios. Had they
not responded, she might not have known until police posted about it 40
minutes later.

"I've probably missed some things I don't know about," she said. "And
there's definitely things we got late."

Scanners have long been used by reporters to monitor breaking news and
respond to incidents quickly, said Jill Farschman, CEO of the Colorado
Press Association. The public expects relevant information quickly. While
news organizations do not typically report directly off of police radio
traffic without confirmation - as is policy at The Denver Post - the
chatter can help reporters know what questions to ask about an incident.

"We don't expect to find out about a fire or a police shooting or a natural
disaster three days later," she said.

Agencies communicating through social media and press releases is helpful
but does not replace professional reporting, she said. For example, if a
police officer shoots and kills someone, it's important that a reporter be
able to be at the scene and ask questions, she said. Otherwise, information
is released to the public on the police department's timetable. The
department also then has more control over what information is released.

"People on the face of it may be quite satisfied with a press release," she
said. "But when things get dicey and if there are conflicting accounts, or
any kind of controversy, that's not going to be the case."

Relying on departments to post information on social media or in a news
release also allows them to choose what is worth telling the public, said
Roberts with the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

"What if they don't?" he said. "The department becomes a filter for what
gets out there and what doesn't get out there."

Solutions

Colorado legislators considered a bill earlier this year that would have
set guidelines for encryption, but it ultimately failed in the face of law
enforcement opposition.

The bill would have banned law enforcement agencies from encrypting all of
their channels and also would have made it a crime to listen to police
radio traffic while committing a crime.

It's possible a similar bill to create a standard statewide policy could be
introduced in the upcoming legislative session, Farschman said. The
representative who sponsored the bill, Republican Rep. Kevin Van Winkle,
did not respond for a request for comment for this story.

Other cities have tried different methods to address the concerns of police
and the public. Police in Lincoln, Neb., published an unedited online feed
that was delayed by 10 minutes. Some cities, like Pueblo, gave news
organizations scanners that allowed them to listen to the encrypted radios.

"That certainly helps, because the news media are the eyes and ears of the
public," Roberts said. "It also raises other issues. Who gets those? Who's
a journalist? It's not always a question that's easy to answer."

Roberts said he wasn't sure how laws that protect public access to
government records applied to live radio communications. The Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press wrote in 2012 that there was no federal
law protecting the public's access to police radio channels.

Along with reporters, encryption also would block an avid community of
radio enthusiasts who tune in to track police activity in their
neighborhoods.

Curt Mann is a scanner enthusiast and runs a business programming radios.
He said it's hard to tell how many people in the Denver metro area have
their own personal scanners, but said it must be in the thousands. And that
doesn't count those who use online feeds.

Mann, who an Aurora Fire Department dispatcher who retired 10 years ago,
said police departments benefit from having people listen to their radio
communications. It helps people understand the day-to-day work of police
and to see how busy they are.

"Would you hire an officer that you couldn't supervise?" he said. "That's
what they're asking the public to do. They're asking for us to pay them to
do a job that we can't supervise."

"These departments are all saying, 'We want to have transparency,'" Mann
said. "Saying it and doing it are different things."