[Scan-DC] Montgomery County's new radio system

[Alan Henney]

Whether the police dispatch talkgroups will be encrypted or not seems
to be a difficult question county officials struggle to answer.

Back in January, the county's spokesman, Ohene Gyapong, had told us "Yes,
the primary police dispatch channels will be encrypted; however, I cannot
elaborate until the County Executive’s staff has the opportunity to update
the County Council on the progress."

The world has turned upsidedown since that time while many of us have been
advocating for transparency.

The radios have obviously been programmed so perhaps the more
accurate question would be, how are they programmed now, when (or if) will
the dispatch go encrypted if MCPD decides to do so?

This was Thursday's public safety committee workshop.  Councilman Riemer's
question and comments on encryption were spot on:

https://youtu.be/dUnPb0USzgQ?t=3292

Entire video:
https://youtu.be/dUnPb0USzgQ

Here's the Bethesda Magazine's report:

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/police-fire/after-major-outages-montgomery-county-ready-to-switch-to-new-emergency-communication-system/

The meeting agenda:

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/Resources/Files/agenda/cm/2020/20201210/20201210_PSGO1.pdf

Last week Chief Marcus Jones talked about encryption (and other topics)
with Olney residents (this link starts with encryption):

https://youtu.be/O6kuvFJwFt8?t=4554

It was encouraging to hear Councilmember Riemer's comments on encryption.
The county needs a written policy, he suggested.  You can share your
thoughts with him and his aide, Jason Fasteau:

Jason.Fasteau at montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.riemer at montgomerycountymd.gov