Laws regarding police/law enforcement TAC channels

[Shae_Clark]

I have a few questions about the laws regarding police/law enforcement TAC channels.

• What can & can't you post regarding the information you're hearing on the TAC channel(s)?
  • If there's a restriction on what can be posted in real-time, is there a certain amount of time after such as 30 mins or an hour or a day, etc. that the information could be posted?
• When it comes to audio recording from a TAC channel, is it legal days or even weeks later to include that audio in a video and share it? For example, if there was a shooting and I wanted to put together a video that wouldn't be posted until weeks later, that includes audio from other feeds such as the public LEO scanner feed, EMS, Fire, etc as well as some audio from a LEO TAC channel, would that be okay?

Also to be clear, I just want to know where the line is drawn regarding what can & can't be posted/shared regarding these channels. I would never post or do anything that would put anyone's life in danger.

 

[dave3825]

What can & can't you post regarding the information you're hearing on the TAC channel(s)?

to be clear, I just want to know where the line is drawn regarding what can & can't be posted/shared regarding these channels.

Where are you asking about? Here or your own website?

 

[Shae_Clark]

Where are you asking about? Here or your own website?

Facebook and/or Twitter

 

[pb_lonny]

Facebook and/or Twitter

My question is why? All this will do is push things to encryption.

 

[wtp]

just go into the news business.
that changes everything.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

I have a few questions about the laws regarding police/law enforcement TAC channels. I'm not sure if they're the same nationwide or if they differentiate state from state. I'm in Kansas if that matters.

• What can & can't you post regarding the information you're hearing on the TAC channel(s)?
  • If there's a restriction on what can be posted in real-time, is there a certain amount of time after such as 30 mins or an hour or a day, etc. that the information could be posted?
• When it comes to audio recording from a TAC channel, is it legal days or even weeks later to include that audio in a video and share it? For example, if there was a shooting and I wanted to put together a video that wouldn't be posted until weeks later, that includes audio from other feeds such as the public LEO scanner feed, EMS, Fire, etc as well as some audio from a LEO TAC channel, would that be okay?

Also to be clear, I just want to know where the line is drawn regarding what can & can't be posted/shared regarding these channels. I would never post or do anything that would put anyone's life in danger.

You can post audio from radio feeds if there’s a shooting or something but I wouldn’t recommend it unless it’s like a mass shooting or hostage situation because if you start posting every single thing like a small shooting that most people don’t know about more people might start listening to your police tac channels and media or people may get in the way and try to play cop which will lead to police officers not having any security while on scene and can prevent them from doing their jobs this can also lead to criminals listening to the police and getting away with crime. So this is why it’s best to keep things on the low or else you’ll have to deal with the the dreaded big E just like me in SA Texas after the media couldn’t learn their lesson. Also posting fire and EMS videos should be fine as long as dispatch doesn’t include any gate codes. You also mentioned TAC channels in the USA, in the USA most police agencies will have TAC channels which are used for on scene ops and then there are interoperability channels these are used by law enforcement agencies to coordinate operations for example if there is a pursuit that started in let’s say Miami but the suspect made it out of Miami and into Orlando now Miami and Orlando will use an interoperability channel to talk to each other. Interoperability channels are even connected between states in case of serious events and pursuits. And laws regarding posting police radio video are probably the same throughout the USA.

 

[Shae_Clark]

You can post audio from radio feeds if there’s a shooting or something but I wouldn’t recommend it unless it’s like a mass shooting or hostage situation because if you start posting every single thing like a small shooting that most people don’t know about more people might start listening to your police tac channels and media or people may get in the way and try to play cop which will lead to police officers not having any security while on scene and can prevent them from doing their jobs this can also lead to criminals listening to the police and getting away with crime. So this is why it’s best to keep things on the low or else you’ll have to deal with the the dreaded big E just like me in SA Texas after the media couldn’t learn their lesson. Also posting fire and EMS videos should be fine as long as dispatch doesn’t include any gate codes. You also mentioned TAC channels in the USA, in the USA most police agencies will have TAC channels which are used for on scene ops and then there are interoperability channels these are used by law enforcement agencies to coordinate operations for example if there is a pursuit that started in let’s say Miami but the suspect made it out of Miami and into Orlando now Miami and Orlando will use an interoperability channel to talk to each other. Interoperability channels are even connected between states in case of serious events and pursuits. And laws regarding posting police radio video are probably the same throughout the USA.

Thank you for that info!
Any audio I would post would be weeks/months after the said incident and would be included in a video along with other audio from other scanner feeds. Even with those other public feeds, I always make sure to take out any house numbers, tag numbers, phone numbers, etc, so I would do the same with any information on the TAC channel recordings.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

Thank you for that info!
Any audio I would post would be weeks/months after the said incident and would be included in a video along with other audio from other scanner feeds. Even with those other public feeds, I always make sure to take out any house numbers, tag numbers, phone numbers, etc, so I would do the same with any information on the TAC channel recordings.

Where do you plan to post the videos?

 

[ka3aaa]

if the info you want to post is weeks or months old, what is the purpose of posting it after the fact when its already public knowledge.

you would be better off listening and keeping what you hear to yourself.

and you wonder why there is so much encryption these days, remember loose lips sink ships.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

great, although you can post your videos to the Kansas thread you can find it here all though for some reason Kansas doesn’t have a breaking news and events thread linked to it.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

you would be better off listening and keeping what you hear to yourself.

and you wonder why there is so much encryption these days, remember loose lips sink ships.

And the same goes with military communications even if it is only drills and practices

 

[Shae_Clark]

if the info you want to post is weeks or months old, what is the purpose of posting it after the fact when its already public knowledge.

I do listen to the scanner live but some people like listening to the scanner audio from a certain event, like a shooting. So I put those together as well.

 

[Shae_Clark]

Where do you plan to post the videos?

Facebook & Youtube
I already make these kinds of videos I just haven't included police/law enforcement TAC channel recordings

 

[bob550]

you would be better off listening and keeping what you hear to yourself.

I'm with you on that count. Scanner listening should be for personal enjoyment and not publication. In my area, mostly all TAC channels are encrypted even if no other channels in the same agency are.

 

[dave3825]

some people like listening to the scanner audio from a certain event, like a shooting. So I put those together as well.

Why not let those "some people" go out and buy their own scanners? Then sensitive stuff is not being posted and you stand a chance of continuing to listen.

 

[KC1UA]

I don't care if it's months after the fact. If you are considering posting information from sensitive communications of any sorts....don't. The officers and personnel involved in them don't do just one surveillance and call it a career. You could conceivably compromise their safety by doing so.

The very idea of doing so is absurd and dangerous, and I'm 200% on board with the encryption comments. Oh, and I also worked for a PD for just under 34 years so don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[fredva]

It's not an issue of law. It's an issue of judgement, and what the reaction may be.

 

[ctiller]

I wouldn't do it just based on common sense

 

[Shae_Clark]

I don't care if it's months after the fact. If you are considering posting information from sensitive communications of any sorts....don't. The officers and personnel involved in them don't do just one surveillance and call it a career. You could conceivably compromise their safety by doing so.

The very idea of doing so is absurd and dangerous, and I'm 200% on board with the encryption comments.

Thank you for that info!

Oh, and I also worked for a PD for just under 34 years so don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

& thank you for your years of service!
I'm not sure if that comment was toward me or someone else... Because I would never tell someone they don't know what they're talking about.. So I apologize if I somehow came off that way.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

Facebook & Youtube
I already make these kinds of videos I just haven't included police/law enforcement TAC channel recordings

Don’t post to these sites you’ll only push encryption