Riverside, CA - New sheriff’s radios shut out public

[AZScanner]

Originally Posted by sparkdawg2002

Uh, AZScanner, If you re-read my post I said I am not going to pay to hear RSO meaning I am not even going to try to apply for a rent-radio so we will never know if I could have rented one or been denied one making your point moot and presumptuous to boot. ~SMH~

No need to re-read, I was just making the point that if someone who doesn't represent a major media outlet shows up at RSO wanting a radio, I highly doubt they will get one, even if they have more than enough money to rent a fleet of them. If I were so inclined and still visited that area, I'd try just so I could document here the results to prove said point.

I don't understand how what I said was pretentious. I've dealt with agencies that rent radios to "news media" - they should just come out and say they only rent to national media conglomerates and even if you do get your hands on one those radios are often crippled to ensure nothing embarrassing leaks to the media.

Here in Phoenix I've heard the radio traffic move to a "secure" channel the minute someone from the media "misbehaves" - in other words does more than stand in the staging area and wait for further "orders" from the officers on scene. If anyone here thinks the cops don't abuse their encryption ability to hide from public scrutiny think again. I can count the number of times that someone's been caught committing crimes with scanner in the last twenty years out here on one hand, but the number of times routine traffic has gone to a secure channel to keep the media in the dark has been too numerous to count.

Again, sad state of affairs in Riverside County. It's a shame to hear about this.
-AZ

[Code20Photog]

Originally Posted by AZScanner

Here in Phoenix I've heard the radio traffic move to a "secure" channel the minute someone from the media "misbehaves" - in other words does more than stand in the staging area and wait for further "orders" from the officers on scene. I can count the number of times that someone's been caught committing crimes with scanner in the last twenty years out here on one hand, but the number of times routine traffic has gone to a secure channel to keep the media in the dark has been too numerous to count.
-AZ

I see this nearly every day, we will hear "be advised Code 20 has arrived" or "Code 20 overhead" and they nearly instantly switch to a tac channel, encrypted mode, or in the case of LAPD, to simplex that can't be monitored unless you're right on top of them. (most news vans in LA don't have scanners and unless we buy them ourselves, most photogs don't carry them) As I mentioned before, OC Sheriff won't even issue radios to the media, there's *no* way to monitor them, PERIOD.

Originally Posted by AZScanner

If anyone here thinks the cops don't abuse their encryption ability to hide from public scrutiny think again.

Which is the point I was trying to make earlier in the topic. Scanners are a contenteous subject when it comes to the law enforcement/media relationship. I can't tell you how many times I've had a newbie green reporter who calls a PIO or other official and says "We heard on the scanner..". I tell them to never admit we have a scanner in the field, the moment they realize we're listening, we're going to get shut out. And, there are times where we in the media crosses the line using what we hear, and there are times where the police crosses the line doing things with encrypted or obscure channels.

And as a private citizen, the very few times I've heard something on the scanner, and then called the police in an effort to 'help' them in locating a suspect on the loose, or other 'assistance' has instead resulted in an officer coming to my home and filling out a Field Interview card, basically tracking who has scanners in the community, and making me feel like a suspect. I won't do it anymore. (I have like 8 FI Cards on file with Ventura County Sheriff, all stemming from having a scanner.)