By
Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter
Starting next year, public safety agencies across King County will “enhance” the encryption of their radio communications, blocking outside listeners from tuning into sensitive broadcasts.
What that will look like is up to each agency.
The county’s two largest law enforcement agencies — and all of the county’s fire departments — will continue to broadcast initial dispatch calls for service in the open, for anyone with a scanner or computer to tune into, according to interviews, news releases and officials at the Puget Sound Emergency Radio Network.
Other police departments in the county will decide independently whether to encrypt all or part of their broadcast dispatches.
“It will be up to the individual agencies” on whether to encrypt their communications, said Mike Webb, the executive director of PSERN, which coordinates and oversees the operation of a nearly $300 million digital radio system that was completed in 2023.
Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter
Starting next year, public safety agencies across King County will “enhance” the encryption of their radio communications, blocking outside listeners from tuning into sensitive broadcasts.
What that will look like is up to each agency.
The county’s two largest law enforcement agencies — and all of the county’s fire departments — will continue to broadcast initial dispatch calls for service in the open, for anyone with a scanner or computer to tune into, according to interviews, news releases and officials at the Puget Sound Emergency Radio Network.
Other police departments in the county will decide independently whether to encrypt all or part of their broadcast dispatches.
“It will be up to the individual agencies” on whether to encrypt their communications, said Mike Webb, the executive director of PSERN, which coordinates and oversees the operation of a nearly $300 million digital radio system that was completed in 2023.
