Intentional interference on Cross Co. frequency

[bubbaearle]

Saturday night someone was intentionally "walking on" a deputy as he was trying talk to dispatch while on a traffic stop. He had to try seven or eight times before he got the info to the dispatcher. This is a pretty frequent event on the weekends lately.

Everytime it happens a deputy will tell dispatch to log it down and give the joker a stern warning about the FCC fines & penalties if they are caught. I have even heard the Wynne police chief get pretty upset and threaten an ass kicking if he ever got ahold of them.

What can they do to catch the folks doing this? Can the FCC send folks out to track this when it happens?

I really dont think they report it to the FCC, and if they did I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was one of their own.

 

[RayK]

If you check out the FCC web site,you will see they do go after intentional interference users :http://www.fcc.gov/eb/ look under Field Issued Citations,NALs & NOVs . It does sound like it is one of thier own.

 

[safetyobc]

They should definitely report the incidents. The FCC, from what I understand, have their ways of catching these idiots!

I hope they do catch the person doing it and throw the book at them. They are putting officer's lives on the line just to play some stupid prank.

sorry for the rant, but it is senseless to put someone in danger by blocking their communications.

 

[bpckty1]

Local hams can help, too. They have the equipment to triangulate, and they are on-scene.

I guess this may push the PD towards AWIN.

 

[bubbaearle]

Local hams can help, too. They have the equipment to triangulate, and they are on-scene.

I guess this may push the PD towards AWIN.

The Wynne PD, Cherry Valley PD, Hickory Ridge PD, & Cross Co. SO all share the SO dispatch.

The local FD's are all dispatched by the SO as well.......

The dispatchers aren't professional at all. I'd like to see Wynne PD / FD split from the SO dispatch. I'm sure it all boils down to funding issues.

I see them using encryption before going fully to AWIN - I don't think Cross Co has the money for a full upgrade.

 

[safetyobc]

Sounds like they have too many radios on the system. Your interference is likely coming from a dept radio.

 

[bpckty1]

One way to discourage the offender is to ignore the transmissions. As suggested above by safetyobc, it could be a bored kid playing with his parent's radio.

 

[wrr20891]

Bored kids are not uncommon. I'm aware of a few cases where volunteer FF's had EMS and law enforcement channels programmed in transmit, and the kids would 'play' with the radios.

As the problem is described, encryption might not solve any problems. If the guy is overriding the signal when he transmits, he can do the same with some type of encryption. He might not be able to copy what's being discussed, but he could still overpower the signal with RF.

 

[safetyobc]

If the agency is serious about it, they will track down the offender.

My local PD and FD had a subject transmitting on our frequencies using a radio he bought off of eBay or somewhere. They finally caught the guy and confiscated the radio and solved the problem. He wasn't actually trying to cause interference, but was trying to act like he was on the PD and FD giving directions, etc.