This will turn into an encryption thread, but hey, it is an encryption thread, that's what the story was about.
Anyway...
While NPRs story was more fair than I expected and I'm glad LE community isn't completely against open communications it actually mentions what is the real problem, and unsolvable one too.
Internet streaming is the reason this is even a debate and a story. Back when it was just "journalists and hobbyists" it really was too much of a hassle for average citizen to listen in. These days with the internet anyone can and does. And don't get me wrong. So do I. I even use the archive feature to play a recording of an incident on a radio system I monitor at home. But internet streaming forever changed this hobby and we have to remember that.
I was really happy how the speaker from the LE organization mentioned that most agencies only encrypt sensitive channels (Narcotics, SWAT) which I believe should be a national standard, not through legislation, because it will never happen but through voluntary transparency. I'm just throwing things out there but these days agencies are trying to become more transparent due to higher scrutiny from the public, broadcast dispatch in the clear and you just did that, at close to zero cost. Would be nice if organizations that evaluate LEAs started looking at that as positive thing and encourage it.
I was also happy to hear about the problems with interoperability that come with encryption. Not only you are tuning out the public, you are tuning out surrounding departments. Many departments just don't care. That's the real issue. I would add this to what evaluation agencies (etc. CALEA) look at too. It's bad practice and it should be stigmatized.
Now to mention Europe. I lived in Europe for a quite a long time, and yes I did scan there (in a very gray legal area). Many European countries have nation-wide TETRA based system. Those usually work adequately but a lot of them aren't unmonitorable by design but rather because there is no readily available technology to listen. Security by obscurity. And that led some agencies, to not put encryption in their system. Now with SDRs, suddenly if you have some time and skill, you can listen to them too. Now that is probably more of an exception than a rule but gives you of their sense of importance when it comes to security. Another thing to note with Europe is their lack of transparency, especially when it comes to Law Enforcement. The secretive nature of how European Law Enforcement operates isn't something the American public would like to see. Imagine never seeing police reports, court files and other documents routinely accessed by media via Freedom of Information requests. No such thing in most European countries. You get only what the PIO gives you, and usually they don't give you much.