Chicago police investigate racial slurs transmitted over radio

Heard this radio traffic real time. Wondered at the time if it would make Chicago news outlets or be mentioned at Second City Cop

Slur audio sounds like it came from a Department radio.

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Chicago police investigate racial slurs transmitted over radio - Chicago Tribune

Update

A spokeswoman for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications said in an email that an "unauthorized user" appears to have made the interrupting transmission.

"We have reviewed the audio for this incident and we do not believe that the comments were made through the use of a City-programmed radio as the audio in question lacks identifying characteristics of an official police radio," said OEMC spokeswoman Melissa Stratton, in an email.

Officials: Racial slurs transmitted over police radio, likely by 'unauthorized user' - Chicago Tribune

This is how encryption begins. Fu**ing idiots! I hope it's not someone from this group.

Put Rahm Emanuel on the case, see if he can figure it out

Squad10 said:

A spokeswoman for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications said in an email that an "unauthorized user" appears to have made the interrupting transmission.

"We have reviewed the audio for this incident and we do not believe that the comments were made through the use of a City-programmed radio as the audio in question lacks identifying characteristics of an official police radio," said OEMC spokeswoman Melissa Stratton, in an email.

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The offending transmission didn't have the MDC1200 data burst that the other transmissions had. Believing it wasn't a CPD radio is certainly good news for the city, though I expect plenty will still milk the incident for all they unfortunately can in terms of CPD being racist, etc.


BUT...

Had that police channel not been sounding like a ghetto party-line, that comment would not have been made. I'll never forget being in Chicago about 20 years ago now & listening to CPD. I was utterly amazed at how unprofessional their use of radio was -- the dispatchers throwing in comments like "Be extra careful ###, I got a bad feeling about this call," etc. That sort of atmosphere breeds a culture where people -- officers, dispatchers, and yes, even jackasses with illegally transmitting on public safety freqs all find it perfect reasonable to throw-in their comments.

I expect some of you people that have been listening to such BS over the years get used to it, and will maybe defend it as them blowing-off some steam, but the reality is it's unprofessional, and the radio-version of what's called 'broken-window' syndrome.

To the FCC, a police dispatcher saying "Why ya'll up in my kool-aid?" on a frequency/system the FCC licensed for public safety communications is most likely also an *illegal* transmission. If Chicago public safety isn't going to be professional over the airwaves, it's no-wonder a local radio-geek --or an officer-- is going to join the free-for-all BS with their commentary,

I have monitored Chicago a couple times while in town and on the feed. They are the worst when it comes to radio etiquette.

I've been monitoring Chicago Police & Fire since the 70's and have to agree with the lack of professionalism over the years. It's been getting worse , and even the dispatchers have become "cocky" for lack of a better term. So yes..you're observations are correct. Unfortunately, they are being disciplined for minor infractions, so the "I don't give a fu**" attitude is getting worse.

But....this is not the issue we need to concern ourselves. Some years ago, the Chicago Fire Dept. had a similar issue and are now on a Digital System. Fortunately most of the transmissions are "in the clear" so a simple Digital scanner will work.

Now the focus will be on how to prevent this from happening again. On the day and time in question, the Southside Irish parade was getting organized, so many "outside" units were on the Zone. Also, as it was mentioned" many are buying radios on their own and having them programmed.

Look for some changes within the next 3-5 years. The city is still licensed for new frequencies, the radios are "digital/encryption" capable, and we'll be out here complaining as usual about encryption.

"Now the focus will be on how to prevent this from happening again"

Motorola's Solution($) is to put two of their Si500 VIDEO SPEAKER MICROPHONEs on every officer. One Si500 lens facing the future ACLU plaintiff, the second Si500 lens facing the defendant officer... in addition to encryption of course.

Had that police channel not been sounding like a ghetto party-line,..

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I used to work EMS in one of the US' major cities decades ago, with people from a number of ethnicities. We were tight with our dispatchers, who had the same hiring criteria as field people and were very often field people being rotated through communications. We all did the same job. We probably sounded "worse," and if people are throwing TV sets off the roof or shooting at you, you have a little latitude there with the radio. Frankly, none of the officers or telecommunicators said or did anything illegal or unworthy of the airwaves or in violation of FCC Rules. It's a high-volume, high-stress urban environment and it's grossly unfair to compare that with "Stepford dispatch." Chicago is never going to sound like Adam-12.

This sort of environment lends to the burnout phenomenon. I'd like to recommend searching for, and reading works by Dr. Christina Maslach and her colleagues, or her book "The Cost of Caring" rather than getting judgmental.

As for the problem at hand - it's the interloper. Anybody who recognizes a voice should be dropping a dime, as we used to say.

No slurs during this audio clip. https://clyp.it/ij3zcfiq

Squad10 said:

No slurs during this audio clip. https://clyp.it/ij3zcfiq

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Wow. Jumping out of my chair at getting the right numerics! Bet the CAD wasn't letting her put 3715 in. They had to move the cars out, but that's what happens. Sounds like they were blocking off the route so they could expedite transport. Except for the beginning and trying to move the units so EMS could access the patients, I'm thinking this went down pretty tight. Back in the day in the city I used to work in, something like this might have had both guys tossed into the back of a police car racing them up to the hospital.

Hope the guys are okay. D**n!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-officers-shot-on-west-side-20160314-story.html

Wasn't there a post some time back with pictures showing cpd doing riot or crowd control and many having on body vests clipped on top cheap baofengs to monitor other districts? Just recall that photo.

Officials investigate after racial slurs heard on police radio channel | WGN-TV

well I'm sure that person does or does not know when they spoke they are being recorded at the Dispatch Center so now they have their voice.

Second City Cop "Radio Security" blog comments:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=13350456&postID=1642481734663183285

I would take anything Second City Cop posts with a grain of salt. Especially the comment section.