Lee County Monitoring Via "Press" Methods

[swfluncensored]

Hi all,

Johnothan here, new to RR (forums, not database)!! Been monitoring Lee County for a few years now and just learned about these forums. I recently read a forum about how the press/news media get radios (usually purchased) from departments, in this case LCSO, FMPD, CCPD, LCPA/APD, etc.

Legally speaking, there is no definitive criteria or qualification needed to be a member of news/media or a journalist. I'm not sure how much it would cost, but I'm considering possibly reaching out to PIO in search of an approved Rx-only radio for news media.

Honest replies only - what should I expect, (departmentally) response-wise and price-wise? Who should I contact and what would the process look like? Considering LCPS manages the entire TRS (from my understanding), would one radio cover everything or would I need to reach out to each individual department for a radio?

I know this may seem a little bit extreme, but I am simply exploring my options. Thanks!

Johnothan

 

[tampabaynews]

You said it yourself... if you're inquiring for media use then you'd reach out to the PIO.

And you're absolutely correct, government agencies should not pick and choose who the press is or not. But they do. That's an off-topic rant for another day.

Keep in mind they're only obligated to provide information to the public per state statute. Everything else is a la carte. Nothing in the statutes say they have to provide radios or even have a PIO answer your inquiry in the first place.

There isn't a uniform process or criteria for your request so your mileage will vary. Good luck.

 

[tampabaynews]

Any relation?

Press Credentials/Radio

Hi all, As someone who enjoys stringing in their free time, I recently started to become rather serious about this and I was wondering if this is truly something I could pursue professionally in my area? I am a resident of Lee County (Fort Myers). CCPD, FMPD, and LCSO are all full DE and only...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

You said it yourself... if you're inquiring for media use then you'd reach out to the PIO.

And you're absolutely correct, government agencies should not pick and choose who the press is or not. But they do. That's an off-topic rant for another day.

Keep in mind they're only obligated to provide information to the public per state statute. Everything else is a la carte. Nothing in the statutes say they have to provide radios or even have a PIO answer your inquiry in the first place.

There isn't a uniform process or criteria for your request so your mileage will vary. Good luck.

Yep. They will challenge you and you’ll probably have to sue and make a judge decide if you’re a “qualified” journalist.

 

[MTS2000des]

Honest replies only - what should I expect, (departmentally) response-wise and price-wise? Who should I contact and what would the process look like? Considering LCPS manages the entire TRS (from my understanding), would one radio cover everything or would I need to reach out to each individual department for a radio?

I know this may seem a little bit extreme, but I am simply exploring my options. Thanks!

Johnothan

If the AHJ approves it, you're probably looking at $4000-6500 for an approved and provisioned device plus a yearly fee, assuming it's a Motorola APX6000 or similar subscriber. Keyword, if approved. Good luck with that. Governments specialize in saying NO. You have much work cut out for you.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

My former agency would rent radios to the media, encrypted dispatch TGs only, no back channels. The agreement was that we could inhibit radios whenever the agency asked us to (as the radios are our property). You would hear the on scene commander say "The media is here, everyone go to Bravo" which was a backchannel they knew they didnt have to listen to. They would also ask us from time to time to run a report on the media radios to see what TGs they were listening to.

Back then, there was no such thing as independent journalists like we have now, so the qualification process basically was to call the POC over at CBS, NBC, the newspaper etc to verify the person was allowed to get the radio and to add it to their monthly billing.