Any Public Safety entity that is considering encryption can be dissuaded if the public demands a citizens committee be installed along with encryption. True, there are those occasions where sensitive information may need to be deceminated quickly, meaning using the routine channels instead of MDT's, etc. but by and large, the comms can remain open to reception on scanners. However, once that is taken away, there must be a way of reviewing the comms by a committee to ascertain the validity of the facts. Say for example you called the police and asked them to respond to a break-in at your home... They arrive two hours later... The responding officer says he just got the call, raising a question of unacceptable response times. Taking the department's word for why that happens needs to be verified and checking response times using the recorded comms is how it's done. Insisting a committee of citizens be empowered to review these comms is really something the police don't want to deal with, and they back away from total encryption. But that takes responsible citizens to enact. If nobody objects and lists the reasons why encryption may not be the way to go, and demands a committee if encryption does get approval, we have no one to blame but ourselves. It's our government to get involved with. So we need to get involved. And thanks to those who are already involved.
