Citizens with older model scanners in their homes may have noticed a dead silence late in 2009 when the Federal Communications Commission mandated an upgrade in standards. ....
In order to listen to the new frequencies, people would have had to buy scanners that range in the $500 range, or try their luck with Internet broadcast frequencies. But now, even with those two tools police department traffic no longer can be heard because of software installed on the radios that encrypt, or scramble, the messages to the outside world. ...
The Finney County Sheriff's Office encrypted their radios for a while, before Sheriff Kevin Bascue learned the office's radios did not have to be encrypted in order to communicate with police and other agencies who were encrypted. He said the sheriff's office made the change back from encryption a few weeks ago. ...
As for officer safety and criminals with scanners, Bascue said in his 26 years with the sheriff's office that he can't recall a situation during which a citizen with a scanner created a safety issue.
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