If you actually have permission to get your personal radio programmed to listen to a P25 system, from a system administrator who IS the responsible person who can grant that permission, then it seems that you're but one nicely phrased request from being able to get your radio programmed "officially" with listen-only permissions, via a letter of authorization written from the administrator to the radio shop that services your department's radios. This avoids all grey area/legal issues associated with getting the radio programmed "out of network" which is ALWAYS grey area, sketchy business, and often involves doing things that aren't technically......legal.
He may be quite busy but you can write up a request showing what you want to listen to on your radio, a wish list, and ask him to sign off on it and tell the radio shop to do it.
I have NEVER heard of an actual system administrator granting permission for someone to get a Motorola radio programmed out of network on his system. That could be a career ender, because he's telling you it's OK to violate standard security protocols in place with EVERY public safety radio system, particularly the trunked system. And it's NOT OK.
Keep in mind, the Department of Homeland Security has a little bit of involvement in EVERY public safety trunked radio system. They have certain regulations that all public safety organizations are required to observe. Even if they may not directly affect how individual radios are programmed, (of that I'm not certain), they DO have some involvement in system security. It's due to DHS rules that your county's system sites are never opened for tours. You don't go into the equipment shelters without a legitimate need.
