D.C Reporters Fight Police Radio Encryption Plan

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scanners

I goto houses every day and see alot of family members OF police officers who like to listen with scanners,this will all end when Encryption takes over.So keep that feed on and watch what happens!
You all want your precious iphones to pickup like a scanner,then soon that wont work along with your scanners! The feeds makes it too easy for the crooks and the public to see its easy.Any moron can get a phone!
It takes a bit of skill to get the scanner programmed,and they have been around for years without the police getting po'ed.
 

NCFire11

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You wouldn't believe how many police officers carry scanners on duty to monitor what is happening in surrounding jurisdictions.

The California Highway Patrol literally purchased 100's of scanners (from GRE) for their officers so they could keep track of what is happening in their local areas of responsibility and provide assistance when necessary.

Interesting, I know here NCSHP uses Lowband mobiles and 800 portables. Most of them have a vhf mobiles in their cars to listen to their assigned county and neighboring counties's fire/ems/local law traffic. Most channels that would be encrypted are on VIPER, which they own anyway.
 

MTS2000des

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Wouldn't that officer have interoperability anyway? I figured if they were going to need to talk to each other they would be able to listen/talk on the encrypted channels, as part of an interoperability plan. Could be wrong.

in areas where there is ONE radio system a scanner would not be needed. However, this is hardly the case in many areas. In Metro Atlanta, there are 13 different trunked radio systems, a dozens of outlying agencies on convetional VHF/UHF, the state uses a mix of everything and anything it can afford this week.

Scanning other jurisdictions is part of the job. Not everyone has an efficiently run state controlled public safety radio network, and thanks to dwindling budgets, probably never will. Even in some areas, radio system managers do not program other jurisdictions in for many reasons, including system capacity.

So a scanner can be and often is a vital tool for the pro-active officer who wants to keep an ear on what is going on around them.

I know in Metro Atlanta, some of the city agencies in Gwinnett county, who recently migrated to a close encrypted Astro 25 DTRS, installed VHF analog mobiles in their cars, for tactical communications and interagency interoperability.
 

SCPD

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Do not blame RR. For one, everyone wanted "homeland security". Guess what your getting it. Only a fool would assume agencies or government agencies would leave comms open after a requirement overhaul to communications companies. Encryption is a standard anymore and with budgets most agencies go with Motorola or Ericcson bids who come standard with encryption now even on the low end models for public safety now. with government, if you got it use it. It stems from stopping the criminal element to hear, but many other aspects. Eventually I can see the entire USA going encrypted, and more so with agencies who have a entire state network interop with one another within there own state. The British and Australian HAM/Scanner users warned people here years ago be careful because they will slowly do it one by one as they did over there. If you look at it everyone now is upgrading to either fully capable radios to do encryption, or securenet option with intentions to go secure later once upgrades are complete. They do not think like you do as, secure one or few tac channels and leave others open. If you are going to secure something do it right and thats how they look at it. Im sure your more small town close to the public communities will either hold back or do that securing a channel or two for encryption leaving others open but more or less it is coming eventually for everyone. I know from first witness that numerous areas here/near me are going to do it and they are keeping it hush slowly getting it ready to switch over. It comes from a image of painting anyone who listens as a boogie man which comes from the high end folks. Knowing government and other politics they will find any one they can to blame for having to go encrypted so the mass majority of stooges who dont scan wont oppose it.
 

SCPD

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Thats what gets me too, there is tons and tons of agencies who use scanners or officers purchase there own to monitor communities near by, yet there agency has new radios capable of doing all of it. To it makes no sense. I think RR is a good site. As for those saying criminals will scan with a iphone, heck if they are that desperate they will go buy a transceiver and monitor with other capabilities. A criminal could care less of any FCC or local laws with it. So RR is not to blame. It does surprise me too that many are attacking the feeds. Specially ones who uplink. Makes no sense.
 

Confuzzled

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With such "media" around I would definitely want to encrypt:

Apples and watermelons.

They were engaging in criminal activity by 'hacking' into private cell phone email systems.

We're talking about government broadcasts over publicly licensed airwaves using equipment paid for with public funds by personnel paid with public funds. Encryption on all general channels should be outlawed. Only specially licensed channels should be allowed to be encrypted. Yeah, I'm saying create a separate FCC license class where encryption would have to be applied for and justified for special uses only.
 

Confuzzled

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As far as units using scanners to monitor TAC channels of neighboring agencies that are justifiably encrypted, I wonder if the scanner manufacturers could develop manufacturer licensed chips or modules or some other type of add-on for sale to LE only. It would work for static encryption like our local agency uses, but I'm not sure about the rolling or changeable code systems.
 

ts548

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Apples and watermelons.

They were engaging in criminal activity by 'hacking' into private cell phone email systems.

We're talking about government broadcasts over publicly licensed airwaves using equipment paid for with public funds by personnel paid with public funds. .

I've seen you post this over and over again as if you think because you "paid" for it then you have the right to listen to it. Just because you may have threw a few dollars in the tax pot doesn't entitle you to anything outside of basic needs and listening to communications isn't a right, its a privilege.
 

Confuzzled

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^^ Wrong. It's about transparency and accountability. Taxpayers most certainly DO have the RIGHT to know what publicly paid employees are doing.
 

Confuzzled

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Careful we don't cross the political line and get this thread shut down.

The media can force the issue, in the courts if necessary, but not if they knuckle under and agree to issued radios that could be disabled remotely. With as much as they rely on publicly supplied video (C-News and such) instead of putting paid reporters and videographers on the streets, you'd think they'd be baring their teeth for a real fight against encryption nationwide. If you get right down to it, almost anybody that submits video to a news service via the web or their cell phone could be considered 'press' and be afforded related protections.
 

radioman2001

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The problem with FOIA is that most times is dedacted, and they will take their time in releasing it, if they will give to you at all, stating privacy issues, as is the case I believe in South Carolina. True transparency is to hear, see, and feel on your own without government interference. Since you want this post to be a tell all about encryption, here is my take on it. Encryption only on tactical channels, and full disclosure of those channels by recording them, and releasing them when requested without dedacting. Any varience to this policy would be considered a felony by the persons doing it.
 

WQOC472

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The Police Chief in my town publicly endorses the my feed. I've talked to him several times about the feed being online. When i asked him if he wanted be to talk the feed down: This is his exact words:

"Don't take it down, we have nothing to hide. Scanners are readily available at Radio Shack or Walmart now days."
 

Citywide173

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I goto houses every day and see alot of family members OF police officers who like to listen with scanners,this will all end when Encryption takes over.So keep that feed on and watch what happens!
You all want your precious iphones to pickup like a scanner,then soon that wont work along with your scanners! The feeds makes it too easy for the crooks and the public to see its easy.Any moron can get a phone!
It takes a bit of skill to get the scanner programmed,and they have been around for years without the police getting po'ed.

How long have you been doing this? The police have historically made a media spectacle whenever they caught someone using a scanner in the commission of a crime. This didn't just come about with the advent of the cell phone apps, it's been around for decades. The thing they don't seem to realize is that every time they publicize it, they are only hurting their arguments to outlaw scanner or go encrypted. The people that use the products illegally get caught. They can't provide one single case where a person using these products has gotten away (yes, I know-if they got away, how would they know), or responder safety has been jeopardized. If they can show me this, maybe they'd get a little support from me.

As far as programming, look at Scanner Master's website: Programming All you have to do is tell them what you want, and they'll program it for a fee....what skill is necessary? Any moron can buy a pre-programmed scanner.
 

wten77

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Public Safety Encryption

I have been in to scanning for a better part of 20 years and up untill Lindsey Blanton's live feeds and scanner apps came in to play most public safety agencies did not use encryption. It has become clearly obvious that his feeds and apps are the root cause why agencies are now encrypting complete systems. Everytime you turn around a agency is switiching to full encryption. I have heard time and time again stories of officers finding someone with a smartphone monitoring there every move and yep you guessed it all because of RR Live feeds and smart phone apps. It is a crying shame that this site which initially was intended as a resource just like its name states has become a tool for the criminal element. It's pretty clear that RR has gone too far in developing a smartphone app that allows real time monitoring of public safety activity. Futhermore, the fact that these smartphone apps don't even require you to program, or enter frequencies makes it even more easier for criminals to use these feeds for illegal activity. I do not blame public safety agencies one bit for switching to full encryption, in fact I encourage it. Safety is of upmost importance in regards to the police, and even though I listen to scanners myself I have to put my self in a police officers shoes and think about this whole situation. Encryption is a must. It is not every citizens right to be able to monitor public safety. Is it a right for you to be able to drive? No, It's a privlage. And what happens when you abuse the privlage to drive? The privlage gets revoked. Public safety agencies are realizing that this privlage is being abused and revoking it by way of encryption. so Kudos to radioreference and Lindsey for basically being the cancer of scanner listeners throughout the nation. Soon in the near future the airwaves will be dead air and all we will be able to listen to is ham radio, and ourselves. But it doesn't matter to Lindsey because he is laughing all the way to the bank with the royalties he gets from the homepatrol and the revenue he gets from this sites premium subscribers. Maybe when a officer gets shot and killed because of His site and apps he can use some of that revenue to pay for that young officers funeral while his 3 year old son watches his dad get burried.
 

rdale

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Everytime you turn around a agency is switiching to full encryption.

Every time that I turn around, someone exaggerates so dramatically that it's hard to give their story any weight.

How many agencies have stated they are encrypting because of RR?

Maybe when a officer gets shot and killed because of His site and apps he can use some of that revenue to pay for that young officers funeral while his 3 year old son watches his dad get burried.

Yeah, that's probably what he would do. Sheez. Go find another site if you hate this so much...
 

Citywide173

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I do not blame public safety agencies one bit for switching to full encryption, in fact I encourage it.

Do you work in public safety? I do, and I am dead set against encryption. It hinders interoperability, and results in my having to respond blindly into scenes where other agencies are operating, and possibly transmitting information that could be valuable to me. I carry a VX3 in my pocket for the sole purpose of having a radio that I can dedicate in addition to my department radio. In fact, at a 5 alarm fire the other night, I was using my department issued radio, my VX3 and my HT1550XLS. Encryption would be a HUGE problem in my world. I wonder how the cops would feel if they knew people like me on the EMS side were responding in and couldn't use the information to their advantage......you know, the ones who take care of them when they get hurt?

And for the record, Radio Reference has never marketed an app for smartphones to monitor the feeds that are hosted here.
 
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