You might check with other local scanner enthusiasts to see if there is a workaround… in some cases the encrypted agency never relinquished their pervious comms system and uses it to broadcast in the clear the same transmissions as the new trunked system. It’s rare, I’ve never known a PD to do this but FD’s have.
This has been done in some locals where one trunked system has replaced numerous, previous radio systems. But this possibility was an option that was used when trunking was new. Initially, manufacturers hadn’t yet offered scanners that could follow a trunked system and when they did the cost of a trunk capable scanner was somewhat prohibitive. That was then… today that option is dated. Another possibility may be to find an RF link from the dispatch center to the transmitter site that is in the clear (in this case the encryption doesn’t happen until the transmission gets to the transmitter site). But realistically, this is also not a viable option. Not in todays world. They also may be using phone lines to make that link so finding an RF link is highly doubtful.
It may be futile to check but the regional forums on RR might offer a better insight into a possible workaround for your specific needs in your area
. The news media also objected to the use of encryption (or, at the onset of trunking there weren’t any scanners that were trunk capable.) In which case police agencies provided receive only radios to the media with a set of rules that restricted what they could divulge to the public and they in turn may have piped that audio out over a media frequency to their crews in the field. Again, this is also decades out of date and probably not used anymore, (it’s my understanding it was once used with the Hartford Ct. EDACS trunked system.
Hopefully you didn’t purchase a scanner without first checking if it was going to do what you intended. If you did, there are other agencies that are worth a listen… FD’s will also give you a good idea of police activity as they respond to the more serious police calls. A simple auto accident with even minor injuries results in a medical response that most FD’s provide. It also gives you a heads up that a particular route of travel should be avoided due to traffic delays if you are on a schedule. In some cases ambulance services will respond and be told to “stage” (park close but safely out-of-danger) until the PD gives them the “Scene Safe” call, at which time they may enter the scene. That type of call usually means there is police activity involving a dangerous individual and until the PD has subdued that individual, they will “stage” all other agencies, including FD and EMS.
Hope this helps,
