One more quick comment.
I agree it's probably not as bad as that, but one point to make is that no one can know what an agency is up to now.
If nothing else it's bad policy to be that secretive. Some agencies agree and don't fully encrypt. A little oversight for something as important as law enforcement isn't a bad thing.
I want to still have respect for these agencies, but this doesn't make it easy.
But again, since there are no consequences for them doing that, there's nothing that can be done. There are a couple of guys trying in Arkansas, but we'll see.
It's only because not enough people care and the media won't risk doing a story. Just imagine if the government said people have to give up their Facebook. There would be riots.
So do you think encrypted radio traffic will be different than non encrypted and encryption will promote "militarization"? Do you know what? It sucks that the "hobby" is fading away but that's taking it a tad far.