Boston police radio goes offline

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blantonl

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From the Boston Globe:

An Internet service that transmits police radio calls has cut off broadcasts from Boston-area police departments for fear of jeopardizing first responders during the Boston terrorist manhunt.

Tens of thousands of news junkies from around the world had been using the service to follow the story.

Broadcastify.com of San Antonio, Texas, works with a nationwide network of volunteers who connect police radios to their computers, then transmit the incoming calls to a central server. Law enforcement buffs and journalists can log in and listen on personal computers or through smartphone apps.


http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...oes-offline/METvw7YncDyPIEoNnTnTEM/story.html
 
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seems like a minor dilemma,,for the user end anyway..

with all the national attention that online scanners were given this time around,Im worried that there will be a move towards even more encryption.the PD knew and was getting(and is ) furious over the real time info flow..
 

n9mxq

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I see it that it shows that Broadcastify cares. Willing to put its user base after those in harms way. Will that affect decisions to encode? Who knows.

I think it was a stand up move. And the only right one.


No bits were harmed in the posting of this message.
 

MisterK33

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While I was aggravated on my end that I couldn't listen to the feed any more, if it meant that more officers were safe, then I was ok with it.
 

Keith_W7KEW

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From the Boston Globe:

An Internet service that transmits police radio calls has cut off broadcasts from Boston-area police departments for fear of jeopardizing first responders during the Boston terrorist manhunt.

Tens of thousands of news junkies from around the world had been using the service to follow the story.

Broadcastify.com of San Antonio, Texas, works with a nationwide network of volunteers who connect police radios to their computers, then transmit the incoming calls to a central server. Law enforcement buffs and journalists can log in and listen on personal computers or through smartphone apps.


Boston police radio goes offline - Business - The Boston Globe

I always thought a five-ten minute delay in scanner audio would be the best policy. That way if someone is using your service to commit armed robbery they wouldn't be able to get away in time.
 

K4IHS

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This incident SCREAMS delayed audio streams! I wonder how long it will take for the Boston PD Chief to be at the City Fathers door asking for encryption?
 
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DaveNF2G

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I didn't hear anything over the stream that would have compromised their ability to care for the injured, secure the crime scene, or conduct their investigation.

American police have been drifting into the "police work is secret" mindset for a long time.
 

Confuzzled

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American police have been drifting into the "police work is secret" mindset for a long time.
Something that needs to be stopped - COLD.

Actually, this incident screams out against the evils of Enc. How many of the responding mutual aid agencies would have been left in the dark with it?

Personally, I think it should be banned by the FCC on any frequency licensed for use by publicly funded agencies.
 

mkewman

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I didn't hear anything over the stream that would have compromised their ability to care for the injured, secure the crime scene, or conduct their investigation.
.

Bull.

That kid could've had a cell phone, streaming one of the scanner streams from other sites. They were giving tactical information (Location, plans, etc) out over the air. Had he been using the stream, he could've killed the officers who originally responded to the 911 call to check out the boat, if he had known they were coming. (BTW that's info that was on the scanner.)

Let's not be naive here. Criminals are smart enough to find these services and try to use them to their advantage. It's been happening for years. It used to be that hostage takers would watch the situation on tv and see how/where the swat team was entering the building.

I'm not saying they should encrypt, but for gods sake, stop broadcasting tac channels, and put a delay on the streams.

I'm ALL for transparency and keeping channels un-encrypted, but it's incidents like this, where the media and citizens publicize tactical information that leads to encryption. It doesn't have to result in a hurt officer, but just the potential is enough to make agencies encrypt.
 

SCPD

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How many of the responding agencies be left in the dark ? None, Bapern and Nemlec can be used by all LE in the state, encryption won't shut them out but will shut the public out.
 

jim202

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How many of the responding agencies be left in the dark ? None, Bapern and Nemlec can be used by all LE in the state, encryption won't shut them out but will shut the public out.

It is obvious that you have no understanding of encryption and how it is implemented. Just because you think every agency in the state has access to the BAPERN system, that doesn't mean they have the encryption key for that day for that activity for that talkgroup.

getting an encryption key into each and every radio that will be part of the action is no easy task. Even with over the air keying, it is a monumental task for large numbers of radios. You also have to let these radios have access to the trunking system. Again, just setting up the ability of each radio to function on the system is no easy task. It requires that each and every radio to have been entered into the data base of the radio system. This would require that each radio be originally touched by the radio tech and programed up for the trunking system operation. It would require that the radio system manager entering in each and every radio one at a time into the system with a unique radio number ID.

It would actually take days to enter in a large number of new radios to function on the trunking system.

You really need to think this through before saying that it is a easy thing to just run several hundred radios into a region that are not normally operational there and expect them to work.
 

K4IHS

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Listening on UStream... near the end of the operation I could hear the helicopter telling the crews on the ground where the suspect's location was in the boat... what direction his body was pointing or when he was sitting up or lying down. I also heard where they setup the snipers in the 3rd story of the house looking right down into the boat and when the "flash bangs" where going to go off... officers in the perimeter where told to "hold their fire". Even the operation of what they called the "bobcat" vehicle to come in and tear the tarp off the boat.
 

Confuzzled

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That kid could've had a cell phone, streaming ....

Or he could have had a hand-held scanner and not been streaming from anywhere. But is there any indication he had either? Or are we just 'what-iffing' this to death.

How many local residents were listening and were able to protect themselves? How many were able to be aware of what to look for and been ready/able to assist?
 

SCPD

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Obviously you didn't get the point, no responding agencies were left in the dark. whether encrypted or not, being from Boston for 60 years and employed for 31 years in public safety they have the capabilites for wide area communications for situations of great magnitude. Encryption has nothing to do with "being in the dark" as far as Public Safety Employees, it only shuts out public monitoring.
 

Jimru

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It is obvious that you have no understanding of encryption and how it is implemented. Just because you think every agency in the state has access to the BAPERN system, that doesn't mean they have the encryption key for that day for that activity for that talkgroup.

I totally agree.

Not only that, but there were LE units from out-of-state, as well as oodles of Feds!

There is no way they could have encrypted on such a large scale in so short a period of time, if at all.

Maybe one day in the future, all LE radios, from all jurisdictions, will be able to seamlessly encrypt within minutes of being called to a scene.

I just don't think it will happen any time soon!
 

K4IHS

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Interesting to note... you could hear the commanders in the field asking the command post to patch certain frequencies and talk groups together.
 

ecps92

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That would have been a "Bearcat" :wink:

Listening on UStream... near the end of the operation I could hear the helicopter telling the crews on the ground where the suspect's location was in the boat... what direction his body was pointing or when he was sitting up or lying down. I also heard where they setup the snipers in the 3rd story of the house looking right down into the boat and when the "flash bangs" where going to go off... officers in the perimeter where told to "hold their fire". Even the operation of what they called the "bobcat" vehicle to come in and tear the tarp off the boat.
 

blantonl

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Ok, this one should be taken to the tavern. Back to your regularly scheduled programming...
 
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