[Scan-DC] Police radio fans bemoan agencies' use of encryption (Palm Beach Co)

[Alan Henney]

Palm Beach Post (Florida)

January 21, 2019 Monday
FINAL EDITION

Police radio fans bemoan agencies' use of encryption

BYLINE: By Julius Whigham II, The Palm Beach Post

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 643 words

Stephen Wolf recalled scanning for fire and police radio frequencies as a
kid in New York City, using a rotary tuner on a 7-inch black-and-white
television. Charles Benn began listening to shortwave radio as a teenager,
acquiring a ham-radio operator's license at the age of 14.

Today, the Palm Beach County residents are among hundreds of dedicated
scanner-radio enthusiasts in South Florida who monitor and share
information from police and fire dispatches. But recent changes in radio
technology - and choices made by law-enforcement agencies - have made it
more challenging for them to pursue their passion.

"I have something going in the house all the time," said Benn, 67, of
Loxahatchee. "Most of the serious scanner enthusiasts, they're not
busybodies. ... They're

paying attention to their surroundings. Knowing what's going on in your
surroundings has benefits."

Wolf, 75, of West Palm Beach, is a member of a Southeast Florida scanner
group that shares information gleaned from police and fire dispatches.

"It's interesting to hear what's going on," he said.

But following a national trend, local law-enforcement agencies - including
the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, by far the county's largest
policing agency - have begun encrypting their radio communications,
preventing the public from listening to them. Last summer, as part of
upgrades to its Motorola radio system, the sheriff's office began
encrypting all of its communications.

Other police departments, including those in Jupiter and Palm Beach
Gardens, have gone in recent years to Harris Corp.'s OpenSky system, which
cannot be monitored by the public.

Many agencies have expressed concerns about officer safety and the
potential for police operations to be compromised from having those under
surveillance be able to monitor police actions, either through traditional
radio scanner technology or through a growing number of smartphone
applications.

Local ham-radio and scanner operators say the changes have had a drastic
impact for those who listen to scanners as a hobby.

"There's very little to listen to any more," said John Fulford, a
70-year-old West Palm Beach ham-radio operator and a retired sheriff's
deputy. Fulford, who once worked the sheriff's organized-crime unit, has
mixed opinions about police agencies using encryption technology.

"The unit I was in, we had encrypted radios," he said. "There are just some
things that needed to be encrypted."

But Fulford said there are also times when making police communications
available can yield valuable information.

"It's a two-sided sword," he said "There were some things we liked for
people out there to know."

Benn, a former network television broadcast engineer and at one time a
volunteer firefighter, voiced a similar sentiment, calling encryption "a
touchy subject."

"There are certain cases where absolutely it should be encrypted," Benn
said. "I don't agree that every bit of day-to-day communication needs to be
encrypted just because they want to."

Said Wolf: "To a certain extent, I can understand their position. I think
it would be a little more palatable to at least have the basic dispatching
open and available to anybody who wants to listen to it."

Some scanner communications, such as Palm Beach County Fire Rescue
dispatches, remain available to the public. Benn thinks police encryption
and other factors, such as the rising costs for scanning equipment, may
deter others from pursuing the hobby. But he said they likely won't deter
true scanner enthusiasts.

He noted that several forms of radio communication, such as marine and
railroad channels remain available to the public.

"The encryption has slowed things down a bit," he said. "But I think the
hobby is very much alive. The true scanner enthusiast listens to a lot of
stuff. There's a lot of real interesting stuff out there to listen to."

jwhigham at pbpost.com



GRAPHIC: Reporters and editors in the newsroom of The Palm Beach Post
always have this police scanner on. As public safety agencies shift to
encrypted channels, less information is publicly available. [LANNIS WATERS/
palmbeachpost.com] Portable police scanners like this are used by radio
enthusiasts and news gatherers to monitor public safety activity. [LANNIS
WATERS/palmbeachpost.com]