Unlikely for VFDs, but encrypting municipal departments would be logistically easier.
Without a doubt, it's a different world. I keep one scanner devoted to various freqs from off-the-shelf walkie talkies, two to military, and one for just random local stuff that's not encrypted. They're a lot quieter these days, but it helps in keeping my girlfriend scanner-tolerant
As far as scanning goes, when I started in the 70's I never could have imagines what had happened in the last 15 years, but such is life. There was a time in the 90s when a municipality in North Carolina was simulcasting their PD comms on a local cable TV channel and the Delaware State Police was streaming their comms on their own website. Then there was the prison uprising in New Castle County and that changed. I think the owner of Broadcastify had mud thrown his way by Delaware officials.
According to sources, it is too costly for the sheriffs departments to go full encryption..some only have a few encrypted channels, some have none. Bedford County has no plans to further their encryption anytime soon. Most departments use pc's to handle sensitive information from car to dispatch or dispatch to car. That is a form of encryption in itself. Lynchburg PD is now fully encrypted, with Lynchburg Sheriff and Fire and Rescue still non encrypted as of this date. From what I have been told, they have no plans for encryption for those agencies.
