During the tragic active shooting at Michigan State University, police units requested tactical/encrypted channels but were then notified by the dispatcher that interoperability may be compromised since not all units on scene have access to the same encrypted channels. This was becoming a greater concern as they believe the suspect may have access to a scanner and might be actively listening to police operations on scene, giving the suspect an undesired advantage to commit more harm.
This post is to discuss everybody's opinions regarding Public Safety Radio Transparency vs Security and the growing world of Broadcastify. I am a broadcastify feed provider myself and I believe that a lot of radio communications should be non encrypted and available to the general public for transparency and news reporting. However, being a strong supporter of all departments of Public Safety, I firmly believe that any advantage we can give our First Responders during an active shooter, or any other mass casualty event, such as complete encryption of communications should be granted, and every source that can assist in restricting the leakage of sensitive information, like broadcastify, should do so.
Now there are multiple factors at play, such as Encryption Interoperability (not all departments have access to same tactical/encrypted channels), and sensitive information being said on clear channels.
Michigan Public Safety Communication System (MPSCS) has numerous encrypted talkgroups with varying strengths of encryption, so encrypted / tactical channels were in use during this event, but sensitive information was still said on clear channels, like TGID 1008 - STATW1, which acted similarly to a operations / scene dispatch channel.
This brings me to the big debate.
If this suspect was using broadcastify calls, which would give the most information regarding the movements and operations on scene, what should Broadcastify do in an event like this? Like I said before, I highly value the transparency of public safety communications, but at what point should that be limited to protect our first responders on scene?
Like if it were Broadcastify Calls, I think a simple mandatory 5 minute delay should be implemented upon request of the Local Jurisdictions Dispatch Center, or Government official.
What do you guys think? There has to be a balance between Transparency and Security, but if a line had to be drawn, where would it be?
This post is to discuss everybody's opinions regarding Public Safety Radio Transparency vs Security and the growing world of Broadcastify. I am a broadcastify feed provider myself and I believe that a lot of radio communications should be non encrypted and available to the general public for transparency and news reporting. However, being a strong supporter of all departments of Public Safety, I firmly believe that any advantage we can give our First Responders during an active shooter, or any other mass casualty event, such as complete encryption of communications should be granted, and every source that can assist in restricting the leakage of sensitive information, like broadcastify, should do so.
Now there are multiple factors at play, such as Encryption Interoperability (not all departments have access to same tactical/encrypted channels), and sensitive information being said on clear channels.
Michigan Public Safety Communication System (MPSCS) has numerous encrypted talkgroups with varying strengths of encryption, so encrypted / tactical channels were in use during this event, but sensitive information was still said on clear channels, like TGID 1008 - STATW1, which acted similarly to a operations / scene dispatch channel.
This brings me to the big debate.
If this suspect was using broadcastify calls, which would give the most information regarding the movements and operations on scene, what should Broadcastify do in an event like this? Like I said before, I highly value the transparency of public safety communications, but at what point should that be limited to protect our first responders on scene?
Like if it were Broadcastify Calls, I think a simple mandatory 5 minute delay should be implemented upon request of the Local Jurisdictions Dispatch Center, or Government official.
What do you guys think? There has to be a balance between Transparency and Security, but if a line had to be drawn, where would it be?
