[Scan-DC] More on Virginia Beach PD's encryption

[Alan Henney]

https://www.dailypress.com/news/crime/vp-nw-police-scanner-encryption-20220803-4hy5i2kl5rc2xkjxuwrhoafdmu-story.html

Virginia Beach residents criticize loss of transparency as police radio
frequencies go dark

By Gavin Stone
The Virginian-Pilot

Aug 03, 2022 at 10:31 am

Ronnie McCallion is an avid listener of the police scanners and has started
several Facebook groups dedicated to listening to them. (Billy
Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot)

VIRGINIA BEACH — Every time she left her house over the past three years,
Christina Smith would check Facebook to see if it’s safe where she’s headed.

While she was out, she’d check Facebook to see if there’s any danger in the
surrounding area, or in the areas where her children and husband are.

Smith, 47, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the
2019 mass shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center that killed 12
people and injured four.

To ease her anxiety when venturing out into public, Smith has relied on a
Facebook group called “VB Police Scanner Conversation.” It’s one of several
groups that stays abreast of police activity by monitoring police radio
channels and posting about notable incidents.

“I’ve been using it faithfully for the past three years so that I can leave
my house with at least a little sense of security,” Smith said.

But as of last week, she can no longer monitor the police radio activity.
No one can.

The Virginia Beach Police Department began encrypting its radio traffic
Thursday, meaning its officers’ communication on police radios is no longer
public.

It’s happening across the country. Smart phone apps have made police
scanner traffic more accessible than ever, stoking concerns in the law
enforcement community about officer safety and the transmission of
sensitive information. Encryption means some of the scanner groups that
keep tabs on police officers’ whereabouts are now mourning the loss of a
community resource and decrying what they consider a lack of transparency.

“They’re doing this for officer safety first and foremost, and I get that,”
said P.J. Saston, who started the former “VB Police Scanner Conversation”
group in November 2018. “I understand that, it’s very important, but also I
feel like there’s no transparency now.”

___

The move toward encryption
The trend of police departments nationwide encrypting their radio
frequencies dates to at least the early 2000s, according to Adam Wandt, a
professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and an expert in law
enforcement communications.

Some do it out of a concern that criminals use scanners to stay one step
ahead, or because there’s a risk of exposing personal information of
victims and alleged criminals. Others do it to simply limit who can listen,
Wandt explained.

Bank robbers and other more sophisticated criminals regularly use scanners
to help them commit crimes, Wandt said, as do those who want to avoid DUI
checkpoints.

Many police departments switch to harder-to-find tactical channels to
discuss more sensitive matters, or officers will often call each other on
cell phones.

Perhaps the biggest change is the proliferation of free apps on
smartphones, which have changed the landscape of monitoring police
communications. Most police departments’ radio frequencies are broadcast
over the internet via these free apps, Wandt said, which makes protecting
officers, victims of crimes and the accused, much more difficult.

“On it’s face, it’s not that different from having a radio frequency
scanner, however, many more people have a smartphone than have a radio
frequency scanner,” Wandt said.

___

Virginia Beach airwaves go quiet
Virginia Beach had been planning since 2018 to encrypt its police radio
frequencies, but the project was delayed due to the pandemic.

In a statement Thursday, Virginia Beach police cited the same reasons that
other agencies have in migrating to encrypted radio channels: officer
safety and preventing the release of personal information.

“The need to secure police communications is of critical importance,” the
department wrote.

The agency pointed to a Feb. 8 arrest of two individuals who allegedly
attempted to break into a local Food Lion to steal a safe. Once in custody,
the officers realized the suspects had been using a phone app to listen to
officers discuss their response.

“Had these suspects been armed, this arrest could have ended in tragedy,”
the department said.

The police also noted their mandate to protect the identity of sexual
assault victims and juveniles involved crimes. Officers “routinely”
transmit sensitive and personal identifying information about people on the
radio to, for example, verify identities and check for arrest warrants, the
statement read.

When asked for comment on Virginia Beach encrypting their radios, Lindsay
Blanton, CEO and founder of Broadcastify, one of the most popular free
scanner apps used by local residents, referred The Virginian-Pilot to his
post on the forum RadioReference.com in which he was critical of the
department’s decision to encrypt.

Blanton said the city and Police Chief Paul Neudigate “cherry picked
reasons to reduce transparency.” He dismissed the department’s use of the
Food Lion break-in as example of scanners creating more danger as a “non
sequitur,” saying the scanners wouldn’t have added to the danger if the
suspects were armed.

“First, the suspects were apprehended and it is responsible to conclude
that since officers were already in the immediate vicinity when the call
went out, if the subjects were armed and intended to use their weapons, the
use of a police scanner in the commission of this crime would have had
absolutely no effect as to the outcome of the incident, and never would
have in the first place,” Blanton wrote.

He said it’s always been the company’s position that law enforcement’s
“routine” dispatch channels shouldn’t be encrypted, but everything else
should be. He added that Broadcastify’s terms of service have never allowed
tactical or other sensitive channels to be broadcast.

Virginia Beach police maintained that the switch to encrypted lines will
not affect the department’s commitment to “transparency and
accountability,” because copies of radio transmissions can still be
provided as required by state public records law.

The key difference, of course, is that the communications will no longer be
available in real-time.

Wandt said he believes it’s a mistake “to lock everyone out” of listening
to police radios, but doesn’t think the general public needs access. He
suggested a compromise, in which members of the media are given total
access, upon request, so they could continue to keep the public informed.

“Police departments are public agencies funded by public funds,” Wandt
said. “Transparency is critical for both public safety and accountability.”

Radio frequencies for Norfolk, Newport News and Portsmouth police remain
accessible to the public — and each have Facebook groups dedicated to
listening in — while Hampton police have already encrypted their
frequencies. A spokesperson for Chesapeake police said some of their
frequencies are encrypted, but couldn’t confirm whether any were open.

___

A real-time community resource
Before encryption took effect, Virginia Beach scanner groups were brimming
with posts from members who caught reports of criminal incidents over the
scanner or described incidents they saw or heard.

The groups’ members listen for a range of reasons, from a desire for
security to those who listen as a hobby. Some listen on their smartphones
using free streaming apps such as Broadcastify while others use expensive
police scanners.

Posts often included questions about why first responders are gathered in
an area, or if anyone heard a call about gunshots in their neighborhood,
while others shared general details of every-day police responses — and
they’re often the first to know about incidents such the recent string of
community college bomb threats in the region. Scanner group members keep
their eyes peeled for stolen vehicles and persons of interest, and share
any new information. In some cases, they’ve provided information that has
led to the return of stolen property.

The local Facebook groups adhere to strict guidelines on sharing sensitive
information about victims or police strategy, deleting posts that don’t
comply and banning repeat offenders, based on interviews with moderators
and long-time members of multiple popular groups.

The moderators of the groups take an explicitly pro-police stance,
prohibiting any “bashing” of cops while still allowing for civil
discussions of police wrongdoing.

Early on, members of Saston’s group made “baskets of gratitude” filled with
snacks and drinks for Virginia Beach police, dispatchers and K-9 units.
They also go out of their way to share police interactions that show the
officers’ humanity, an effort to combat the negative perception that has
been enflamed by viral videos of police brutality in recent years.

“We have a lot of respect for one another on the page even though we have
difference of opinion,” said Ronnie McCallion, who started the “2021 VB
Scanner Members Group” page on Facebook.


Ron McCallion sits for a portrait at his residence in Virginia Beach on
July 29, 2022. McCallion is an avid listener of the police scanners and has
started several Facebook groups dedicated to listening to them. (Billy
Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot)
McCallion said that he began listening to police scanners decades ago while
working as a security guard for a Winn-Dixie in Florida. One day, he heard
a report that there was a disturbed woman wielding a gun in a parking lot;
it turned out to be outside his store. McCallion told the manager to lock
the front door and get everyone to safety, but the manager didn’t believe
him until he looked out and saw the woman.

“I want to know what gets to me before it shows up at my front door,”
McCallion said.

But there’s cause for concern about the police radio Facebook groups, too,
Wandt said. A recent University of Toronto study found evidence of negative
consequences of apps that have similarities to the groups. The study
concluded that the apps can “fuel anxiety and paranoia for some users,”
making crimes feel “closer, more relevant and more immediate,” and can
exacerbate the criminalization of marginalized groups.

___

What happens next
Now that Virginia Beach has gone dark, many scanner listeners are wondering
what comes next.

McCallion, who has lived in Virginia Beach since 1986, started his first
police scanner Facebook group in Anchorage, Alaska, which had about 12,000
members before the city’s police department encrypted. Encryption caused
his group to balloon to 64,000 as people were desperate for information, he
said, and he expects a similar trend in Virginia Beach.

Saston had been planning to switch the focus of her Facebook group to fire
department and EMS radio frequencies, which she thought would still be
available after encryption took effect.

Virginia Beach police said in their announcement that firefighters and
medics will be equipped with encrypted radios to be used “as needed,” so
it’s unclear whether that’s an option for Saston. A spokesperson for the
Virginia Beach Fire Department did not respond to a request for specifics
on how encryption will affect public access to fire and EMS radio
frequencies.

The “Virginia Beach EMS” channel on Broadcastify was online and
broadcasting radio chatter as of Tuesday afternoon.

Saston has been among the most outspoken against the encryption of the
radios, and lamented that neither she nor anyone else from the
scanner-monitoring community went before the City Council to oppose the
change before it happened.

Smith, the Virginia Beach mass shooting survivor, said she worked closely
with six of the people who were killed, and had relationships outside of
work with three of them. While she knows others who lived through the
experience don’t rely on the police scanner the way she does, she said she
has leaned on the Facebook group “like a crutch” to help her get out the
door.

“Sometimes it is overwhelming and my daughter has even said that she thinks
that I should not listen but for me, not knowing seems worse to me than the
knowing,” she said.

But Smith has now lost her crutch, and she’s frustrated by the department’s
decision.

“Myself and many others experienced something that no one should ever have
to,” Smith said. “We saw, heard, smelt and felt things that day that
forever changed our lives. Anything that can give any of us even just a
little peace of mind should not be taken away.”

Gavin Stone, gavin.stone at virginiamedia.com