MPD encrypted radio channel.
We are aware of, and have received, emails with various forms of a form letter that is circulating about Mac PD’s radio encryption. The decision to change our radios to an encrypted channel was based on officer safety issues among other things and the process began over a year and a half ago.
There are several reasons we chose to go encrypted. One of the reasons is because we broadcast personal information over our radio system, for example names and dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, addresses, phone numbers, etc.
The second reason is that it has become more common for our officers to find that suspects/persons of interest are listening to our movements on a scanner. As you might imagine, it is much harder to catch a suspect who is listening to your approach and locations. Additionally, we have experienced issues with the public posting officers locations and even photos of officers’ locations during critical incidents on social media pages.
Another reason is that information regarding community members’ serious life events gets broadcast and sometimes that information reaches family members before we can notify them in person of a death or serious physical injury. The reasons to use an encrypted radio channel are many, these are just a few examples.
YCOM provides our dispatching service, however they do not have decision making abilities regarding MPD’s encryption. While we understand this is a change from how things have been over the last five or six years, MPD is not the first agency to go encrypted and we will not be the last to add encryption. MPD’s radio traffic is recorded and subject to public records requests. We are not trying to be less transparent, rather we are trying to keep our officers and staff safe while they perform their job functions.
