Pissing off the sheriff
Thank you for contributing to an encrypted world. If what you say is truthful, you are holding a nail in one hand, and a hammer in the other. Maybe do yourself, your community and the radio community in general a favor and not piss off the sheriff just because you can.
Your welcome!
As I have said many times before in this and other forums, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" Law enforcement (or any other government activity) that must be conducted under the cloak of secrecy is not what our country was founded on or can continue with. I say this after 30+ years of government and law enforcement experience. The need hide the day to day operations of such a busy and politically sensative area as Barber County Kansas must be a very pressing matter. After all, the average 12 thefts, 4 assaults, 2 stolen cars, and 10 burglaries per year do present a serious threat to the national security. When an agency like this deliberately tries to hide what they are doing from the public, then I feel it is my duty as a citizen to discover what they are doing that they don't want people to know about, and why are they doing it at all if it must be so secret. I try to make as much noise about it as I possibly can so as to draw attention to the fact that some government official feels the need to hide the day to day activities of his agency or department under a cloak of encryption. If this pisses the Sheriff off, then I am sorry, but the voters will be letting him know if they agree with him or not shortly.
That being said, does law enforcement (and government in general) need to hide they're activities with encryption? Yes, but only where absolutely needed, and not as the norm. Do we as citizens have the right to know what our government officials are doing? An absolute YES. Do we have the NEED to know? Not always and not under every situation. Encryption is needed in law enforcement. Full time encryption should be saved for the times it is really needed and important. Barber County Kansas encrypting all of their activities under encryption is not one of the times.