Transparency for bucks comes to an end

[Ryanwr944]

After many years of being able to hear Bucks Fire and police, starting around February we will no longer hear police or fire. Apparently the county got money to encrypt all radios.

 

[jtwalker]

Wonder where they got that money ? Best check your wallet, or your local property tax bills for 2021 ...

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Source?

 

[phillydjdan]

It's confirmed and the agenda listed the reason for this funding as "Covid 19". Pure political crap peddled by the Police Chiefs Assoc.

 

[phillydjdan]

$1.2 Million of taxpayer money will be spent to upgrade fire and EMS radios so that they can monitor police activity and police can go full time encrypted. Fire and EMS will NOT be going encrypted, they will merely have the capability for monitoring police only. Now all volunteer firefighters will have to jump on the truck, turn the radio on, switch to PROGRAMMING, rekey the radio, then switch back to thier primary channel... Just to hear the police on thier way to a call. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[trap5858]

I wonder what has changed in this past year that makes the police distrusting of the people they serve? What could the few of us who "had" the capability to listen to them do that would be harmful? I don't recall being asked for my opinion, to the best of my knowledge they just took my money.

 

[phillydjdan]

They have wanted this for years, but the Commissioners never allowed it

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

don't recall being asked for my opinion, to the best of my knowledge they just took my money.

They don't care one iota about the hobbyist's or average Joe's opinion. Never have, never will

 

[Steve162]

Now all volunteer firefighters will have to jump on the truck, turn the radio on, switch to PROGRAMMING, rekey the radio, then switch back to thier primary channel... Just to hear the police on thier way to a call. What could possibly go wrong?

I laughed out loud at your last question! I wonder what sort of chaos all those radios trying to affiliate simultaneously is going to occur.

 

[phillydjdan]

It's going to be a disaster. Place your bets now...

 

[Outerdog]

Why in the world does fire need to listen to PD on the way to a call?

 

[phillydjdan]

Well, to be honest, we listen all the time for situational awareness. Now we wont even have that.

 

[radio3353]

Why in the world does fire need to listen to PD on the way to a call?

I was wondering the same thing. In 10+ years we have never really needed this. I can see EMS needing it for crime scene awareness, but not so much fire service (except maybe for an accident response.) I'm sure every department has their own needs.

 

[phillydjdan]

If you were a first responder in Bucks County you would know why it's needed. You see, police radio gives out fire, ems and accident calls to officers as much as a minute before fire even gets toned out. And they read the entire CAD notes off over police radio. Fire board gives us zero details, not even over our cellphone app. Worried about a residence having a Covid patient? Good luck! You'll see that on the printout we fax down AFTER the call...

 

[Outerdog]

Sounds like you've got bigger problems than being able to hear PD, to be honest.

Around these parts, dispatching procedures changes immediately upon the outbreak of COVID to include screening callers with COVID questions and including "screen positive" as an element of each and every medical call.

And is fire really going to roll on their own accord after hearing something on PD without waiting for their dispatch to send them? Seriously?

 

[phillydjdan]

Well, that makes total sense, but our county commissioners were fed the false narrative that telling responders over the radio that a location has a Covid case is a HIPPA violation, which it is not. That's where the justification came from in the spending bill. The cops say they don't have time to look at thier MDT screens so they need to be told over an encrypted channel. Full time. Meanwhile fire isn't provided MDTs to look at so we're in the dark, literally.

 

[KG7PBS]

I laughed out loud at your last question! I wonder what sort of chaos all those radios trying to affiliate simultaneously is going to occur.

You obviously don't know how trunking systems work do you. There not going to be any chaos at all.

 

[GTR8000]

You obviously don't know how trunking systems work do you. There not going to be any chaos at all.

^ This. Some of the posts describing how this is supposed to work have me chuckling.

 

[KG7PBS]

^ This. Some of the posts describing how this is supposed to work have me chuckling.

Okay I see

 

[trentbob]

$1.2 Million of taxpayer money will be spent to upgrade fire and EMS radios so that they can monitor police activity and police can go full time encrypted. Fire and EMS will NOT be going encrypted, they will merely have the capability for monitoring police only. Now all volunteer firefighters will have to jump on the truck, turn the radio on, switch to PROGRAMMING, rekey the radio, then switch back to thier primary channel... Just to hear the police on thier way to a call. What could possibly go wrong?

I wonder what has changed in this past year that makes the police distrusting of the people they serve? What could the few of us who "had" the capability to listen to them do that would be harmful? I don't recall being asked for my opinion, to the best of my knowledge they just took my money.

Hey Dan and Herb. I missed this thread today I'm just seeing it now LOL. We already have a thread on Bucks County encryption in the Pennsylvania forum. Should they be combined? Some of us already know exactly what's been going on and the timetable involved. I don't know how I missed this but I did. Who are some of these folks? LOL.

I just read the comments from a few of the out-of-towners here, they don't seem to understand Bucks County, especially the lower end LOL. Remember that shooting the other night with a sergeant declaring class 5 before EMS even got there. The guy's head was blown off LOL. Situational awareness by fire and EMS is especially important in Lower Bucks County. Where did these trolls come from? Before this gets out of hand let's combine this strange thread with our official Bucks County encryption thread.