Any reason not to start a stream of my local PD?

[JoshuaHufford]

I gather from a few posts I've read before that this might be a somewhat sensitive topic, and I'm not trying to start a heated debate by any means, this is simply a basic question from someone that has only been into scanning for a few years.

I've been thinking about starting a stream for my local PD, it is analog, not encrypted, and I can receive both sides of pretty much all conversations with good signal quality from my home. I'm honestly surprised that nobody has already started one considering it is the capitol of Missouri and a decent sized city.

Are there any downsides to streaming your PD? Could this possibly encourage them to encrypt? Could you possibly be the target of the local police keeping an eye on you? I'm not the conspiracy theory type but at the same time I don't want to put a target on my back or ruin the ability for everyone using a scanner to not be able to listen.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[mancow]

Not trying to start a debate but it certainly won't encourage them to remain in the clear.

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Not trying to start a debate but it certainly won't encourage them to remain in the clear.

I appreciate your input, this is why I'm asking the question.

 

[a417]

I stream the local municipality to my LAN & VPN, so I can just pull it up with whatever I have on hand but it's not public.

 

[mmckenna]

Not trying to start a debate but it certainly won't encourage them to remain in the clear.

Yeah, this.

I'm in the middle of a project to redesign our PD's system from the ground up. One specific thing that the chief brought up was protesters using scanner traffic streamed to their cell phones. He asked me a few years ago if there was any way I could stop it.
Answer was:
use your cell phones, or encryption.

The new system will have at least one encrypted channel. That's where all the good stuff will happen. And before anyone jumps on me for "freedom of speech" or "it's a taxpayer funded system", well, so are their cell phones, and you don't get to listen to those….

Unless you have a very specific need to stream traffic to the masses via the internet, don't do it. It does drive agencies to encryption.

If you like listening to that agency, then listen to them on your own. Anyone else that wants to listen can buy a scanner.

 

[dlnorth]

I have been providing multiple streams of my county's fire dispatch and operations channels as well as one for a neighboring county since the mid 2000's, without issue. About six months ago, I noticed someone put up a stream of my county's two police dispatch talkgroups, which had been the only 2 police talkgroups that were in the clear. All police tactical and operations talkgroups were encrypted. Within about 4-5 months of the new streams going online, the dispatch talkgroups, which had historically been in the clear, were converted to 100% encryption. Personally, I can't think of a better way to drive police departments to encryption than to make their comms available in real time to people who wish to use those comms in the furtherance of nefarious activities.

Are there other feeds available for your area...fire, EMS, EMA, etc.? Perhaps you could provide public feeds of those services if no one else is. My system, like many others, also has "public safety" operations talkgroups on it which are multi-disciplinary operations talkgroups common to every public safety radio on the system, including police radios. For major incidents involving responses from multiple disciplines, you're likely to be able to monitor police comms on those talkgroups, and it's not likely to be anything sensitive (i.e., dispatches to sensitive or in progress crimes, reporting party / victim information, information protected by state/federal statutes, etc.).

 

[AB5ID]

Go ahead and stream it. For them to upgrade their radio systems won't be determined by someone running a broadcastify stream. Ask yourself what it would take for them to upgrade to a digital encrypted system, (millions of dollars possibly requireing voter approval) and then realize that it will inevitably happen regardless.

 

[dlnorth]

Go ahead and stream it. For them to upgrade their radio systems won't be determined by someone running a broadcastify stream. Ask yourself what it would take for them to upgrade to a digital encrypted system, (millions of dollars possibly requireing voter approval) and then realize that it will inevitably happen regardless.

Perhaps another consideration should be the capabilities of the existing system. In my case, the capability to encrypt was already present, but not used. There was no need to purchase a new multi-million dollar radio system. All it took were some minor programming changes for the dispatch consoles and subscriber equipment and perhaps a few flash code updates. The dispatch channels had been in the clear since the system went online. As soon as someone decided to put it on the internet, both dispatch channels were encrypted.

If you want to monitor the system without putting it online, I'd look into a free program called Zello, which will allow you to run a private stream and offers some nice features that not all streaming programs offer. It only records and streams during activity, not dead air, and you can password protect your stream, so only you can hear it. It also stores recordings on your phone, so if you take a phone call, you can play back whatever transmissions you missed during your call. I'd also suggest naming your stream something other than "anytown PD Dispatch" so no one knows what you're streaming. I run several private streams, for my own personal use, and tend to give them rather innocuous sounding names, so as not to alert anyone as to what is actually being streamed or draw any unnecessary attention or interest.

 

[mikewazowski]

I think the OP has got his answers. All one has to do is read the Tavern thread on the subject for both sides of the argument.