Arkansas State Police tac channel 2

[wbswetnam]

Several days ago I heard one Troop B officer on the Troop B dispatch channel request another officer to talk with him on "tac 2". A few moments later, I heard them talking to each other on the tactical 2 channel in the clear. Then, yesterday I heard the dispatcher (on the Troop B dispatch channel) request to speak to an officer on "tac 2". This time, however, I heard nothing on tac 2. Could it be that they can selectively choose whether or not to use encryption? Perhaps when the two officers I heard several days ago simply forgot to encrypt their conversation (I won't repeat what that conversation was but it was sensitive info about some subjects). Any ideas on when ASP uses encryption?

 

[safetyobc]

ASP doesn't have encryption on their dispatch or tac channels. Possible they were just on a different tower than you?

 

[wbswetnam]

About two or three minutes later I heard the ASP trooper say on the dispatch channel "Back on main dispatch", to which the dispatcher replied "10-4". So, I don't know. Many times I hear the dispatcher say "Give me a 21" to a trooper, so I assume that they relay a lot of sensitive information via cell phone.

 

[03msc]

Pretty sure all the ASP channels(talk groups) are in the db. If you didn't pick them up on 2 they were probably just on a different tower than you (i.e. It was a trooper in White Co and you were in Sharp, for example).

 

[INDY72]

Correct, ASP does NOT use encryption on any TG. When AWIN upgrades then we will have to worry if ASP uses Motorola as the vendors for new radios. But until that starts happening in 2 - 3 years, you won't have to worry about that. Now you do have to worry about either them, or your scanner jumping to another site during an conversation. If for example, you have 3 or 4 sites in your pattern, and your scanner switches to a different site than the conversation is on, you will lose that conversation. Same thing if the unit unaffiliates with the site your monitoring, and affiliates with a site you either don't have range to hit, or don't have in your pattern. Most of the time, its usually your scanner changing sites because of the relative signal strength changing just enough to go into scan.