Bucks county encryption

[trentbob]

Mmmm... yes the fact that EMS and Fire is not going to be encrypted has been repeated ad nauseam here. The expensive Hands-On process to make certain designated EMS and fire radios capable of receiving, not transmitting encryption is a condition of the police going full-time encrypted. That's why they allocated the 1.2 million dollars. The reason that the police did not go full-time encryption a while ago was reaction from First Responders regarding situational awareness. The process of making them situationally aware is not even close to being completed.

I guess it all boils down to what your source of information is. I'm a retired newspaper man from The Trentonian. I of course worked all over but Bucks County was always my beat.

I have a wide network of friends in LE. I'm not saying that information is not casually past in freight elevators and back alleys or maybe even parking garages LOL but I don't come on here and say things unless I'm really confident with the information and I've heard it from several independent sources.

I am not an Insider by any means but there are enough people out there that know what's going on that I'm fortunate enough to cross paths with.

So to be clear, you are saying that the radios will never be in the clear again and that the county has abandon the plan of situational awareness for First Responders? This plan of course is public information as they had to vote to allocate the money to provide the situational awareness.

I'm not asking you to reveal your sources as I would never do so myself, could you expand on the confidence level that you have with this information. Thanks... Bob.

 

[sta18ff]

Mmmm... yes the fact that EMS and Fire is not going to be encrypted has been repeated ad nauseam here. The expensive Hands-On process to make certain designated EMS and fire radios capable of receiving, not transmitting encryption is a condition of the police going full-time encrypted. That's why they allocated the 1.2 million dollars. The reason that the police did not go full-time encryption a while ago was reaction from First Responders regarding situational awareness. The process of making them situationally aware is not even close to being completed.

I guess it all boils down to what your source of information is. I'm a retired newspaper man from The Trentonian. I of course worked all over but Bucks County was always my beat.

I have a wide network of friends in LE. I'm not saying that information is not casually past in freight elevators and back alleys or maybe even parking garages LOL but I don't come on here and say things unless I'm really confident with the information and I've heard it from several independent sources.

I am not an Insider by any means but there are enough people out there that know what's going on that I'm fortunate enough to cross paths with.

So to be clear, you are saying that the radios will never be in the clear again and that the county has abandon the plan of situational awareness for First Responders? This plan of course is public information as they had to vote to allocate the money to provide the situational awareness.

I'm not asking you to reveal your sources as I would never do so myself, could you expand on the confidence level that you have with this information. Thanks... Bob.

Police will not be switching back to open comms. FD/EMS will have radios (not sure if every model will be supported yet or not) reprogrammed to be able to listen to the encrypted PD channels (although I'm guessing probably not the POPs or SERT channels). I'm sure it will be a lengthy process until all FD/EMS depts. have access to the PD channels as the techs have to make physical contact with each radio (approx. 6000 of them) to program them, since encryption keys cannot be OTA'd. As far as confidence level, see signature. As a scanner listener for 30+ years, I'm pretty bummed about it myself.

 

[trentbob]

Yeah I'm a police monitor, uninterrupted, for 55 years. Started listening to Abington police in Montco on 39.18 when I was about 11 or 12 on a slide rule dial monitor. To say I'm bummed out is an understatement.

Our years as scanner listeners don't have anything to do with this but if you are a current Bucks County dispatcher and have kept up with the public discussion with the Police Chiefs Association and Fire Chiefs and the three County Commissioners and are aware of a change in plans regarding not holding off until the work is completed to ensure the safety of First Responders then that is significant.

I'll try to make some inquiries to see what's going on.

 

[trap5858]

I am sorry to see the police traffic go but all of our belly aching is not going to bring it back. No sense losing sleep over it. We will just have to find other stuff to fill our scanners with.

 

[trentbob]

I am sorry to see the police traffic go but all of our belly aching is not going to bring it back. No sense losing sleep over it. We will just have to find other stuff to fill our scanners with.

Actually Herb, I'll probably get more sleep, I always leave my radios on low all night.

I actually stopped listening to the scanner on Monday and was not listening this morning for the announcement. I was trying to detox a little.

No, even though I do listen to a lot of different stuff as you know, I will be selling my apx 7000 and my SDS 200. Everything is encrypted now around us except Philly which I will never go to again and the New Jersey State Police. I may keep the sds100. I'm going put the VHF re broadcast fire South and fire East on my little Icom R2.

Hey Herb, maybe I'll take the money from the 7000 and the 200 and buy a new ham rig.

 

[csantella]

Lots of back and forth on here... so police encryption is here to stay? Not sure where everyone gets their information from.

 

[csantella]

Curious, has anyone here ever reached out to the sys admins and 911 center administrators? Surely there are more people (media, towing, etc) who would be disappointed in PD TGs going full-encrypted. I'm surprised they would make the final decision on encryption without a public statement.

 

[phillydjdan]

Emails to the county commissioners fall on deaf ears and the 911 Director no longer looks at my FB messages. Maybe a phone call should be next, since she is putting my men at risk.

 

[trentbob]

Curious, has anyone here ever reached out to the sys admins and 911 center administrators? Surely there are more people (media, towing, etc) who would be disappointed in PD TGs going full-encrypted. I'm surprised they would make the final decision on encryption without a public statement.

I see that you made a total of 3 post on RR and a couple of them are here. You should probably read the entire thread and it will fill in the gaps for you and answer some of your questions. Some folks here Network together to gather information and do their best to share ASAP. To answer your question about this most recent discovery this afternoon that this will not be a temporary encryption as before, the source is a Bucks County dispatcher who works in the Radio Room dispatching. Police are permanently encrypted as of this morning... period.

 

[csantella]

I see that you made a total of 3 post on RR and a couple of them are here. You should probably read the entire thread and it will fill in the gaps for you and answer some of your questions. Some folks here Network together to gather information and do their best to share ASAP. To answer your question about this most recent discovery this afternoon that this will not be a temporary encryption as before, the source is a Bucks County dispatcher who works in the Radio Room dispatching. Police are permanently encrypted as of this morning...period.

I've read through this page, and others, numerous times, actually even prior to being a member. Simply never felt the need to comment before. Thank you all for the information over the past few months. Sad to see the days of listening to bucks PD are over, but we all knew it was coming.

 

[trentbob]

Some new information, now that dispatch talk groups will be permanently encrypted before Fire & EMS can be changed over to receive encrypted transmissions the tac channels will remain unencrypted for interagency comms between police, fire and EMS. This is temporary until the work is completed on the fire and EMS radios.

 

[trentbob]

I'd like to make a small admendment to the above post number 211, yes the TAC channels will be unencrypted so as to have interdepartmental Communications between police fire and EMS. The part that I'm having a hard time pinning down is the long-term disposition of the TAC channels and what their status will be in the future.

I've been making inquiries and reaching out. This is mostly scuttlebutt from the street.

 

[bill31089]

It seems that when the county has done their safety announcement today they have announced that they are now operating on full-time encryption

 

[trentbob]

Hey bill, they are indeed since Wednesday morning, police only.

 

[bill31089]

Hey bill, they are indeed since Wednesday morning, police only.

Yes I heard the message come over the radio yesterday at 8am

 

[trentbob]

Yep I meant to say Thursday

 

[Engine225]

Emails to the county commissioners fall on deaf ears and the 911 Director no longer looks at my FB messages. Maybe a phone call should be next, since she is putting my men at risk.

Can I have their Facebook account so I can talk to them?

 

[tmnewman]

I see that you made a total of 3 post on RR and a couple of them are here. You should probably read the entire thread and it will fill in the gaps for you and answer some of your questions. Some folks here Network together to gather information and do their best to share ASAP. To answer your question about this most recent discovery this afternoon that this will not be a temporary encryption as before, the source is a Bucks County dispatcher who works in the Radio Room dispatching. Police are permanently encrypted as of this morning... period.

Yep I meant to say Thursday

Sad days for Bucks County citizens who want to know what's going on in their neighborhoods...

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Can I have their Facebook account so I can talk to them?

Why waste your keystrokes?

 

[trentbob]

Yes that is correct, the best have tried oh, they are not going to change their mind.