Media denied access

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freeman_yqr

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sask...ia-access-to-radio-scanners-in-sask-1.5212936

The police services in Regina and Saskatoon are following others in the country by cutting the media off from police radio scanner channels.
In the past, the media had access to what was called Police One, a police scanner that allowed journalists to hear what is happening on the secure police channel in a timely manner, to relay information to the public.
On Jan. 1, 2018, all municipal police services in the province became subject to The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
This change follows a trend across Canada, with Saskatchewan and P.E.I. being the last provinces to include police forces.
 
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I read the article at the link.
The media would require an (SU) a subscriber unit with the encryption keys loaded in it as well as talkgroups to monitor the police service.

A scanner can not be used for monitoring encrypted police service communications.

This is a report by the media about the media and they can't get the facts right.

If the media wants an SU for monitoring a system they should have to purchase it and pay for its programming and also pay a monthly fee for it to be on the system.

That radio can be enabled or disable at will by the system's administrator so the media can be blocked from access at anytime.

The media should not have full access for free at the tax payers expense.

PPSTN subscribers all purchase their own radios and programming and pay a monthly fee for access.

It's just like we pay for cellular service or satellite / cable TV and internet services.

It's user pay if you want to play.

The media is just another for profit organization that makes money off of monitoring and then rebroadcasting what they are hearing the police services are doing.

All I know is that I always have to pay for information whether it's good or bad.

The media moguls have become rich selling us information.

Cheers !
.
 

ryan433pk

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We had our media access to P1 revoked in early March, they took both of our S/U's and reprogrammed them for only FIRE ALARM and FIRE 1

It's a sad day for transparency in Saskatoon
 

Saskwonder56

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Its not surprising this has just happened for Saskatoon and Regina. Medicine Hat and majority of Law Enforcement & EMS have gone encrypted in Alberta. The only thing to listen to for Public Safety in Calgary is Fire Dept.

In Saskatchewan, we have Public works that have and are deciding to encrypt there communications as well... Many of the "Interesting" stuff to listen to is going encrypted.

This is personal opinion, but it could have a part to play in submitting frequencies and radio system info to RR.. That's not to say that listening in on non encrypted things as transit or businesses aren't to have interesting stuff happen from time to time, but if and once they find out their radio communications are out there for anybody to hear they might decide to pull the plug and encrypt.
 

Saskwonder56

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By "Public Works" im referencing to The Sask Highway Dept. There has been word from a local radio shop that MJ Public Transit and City Works are going to an encrypted NXDN system in the next upcoming few months.
 

IdleMonitor

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CBC is one of a handful of newsrooms in Saskatoon arguing to make scanner accessible again


The police services in Regina and Saskatoon are following others in the country by cutting the media off from police radio scanner channels.
In the past, the media had access to what was called Police One, a police scanner that allowed journalists to hear what is happening on the secure police channel in a timely manner, to relay information to the public.


 

robertmac

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Time to find a new hobby. Would look at photography if it wasn't so darn expensive to get worth while photos of wildlife. Guess I'm going to have to clear off my sheets of plywood and start laying out my HO gauge train set. Interesting since local police encrypted, have seen and talked to neighbours that have had more problems with vandals, street people, B & Es, theft from vehicles, and theft of vehicles and dial a dopers on local streets. So doesn't seem to have stopped the criminal element.
 

freeman_yqr

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So I was wondering... when these radios are deactivated and the media is cut off, who makes the decision of what gets passed on to the media and what does not?
Does info on a violent crime get hushed up by the Chief or City Hall to keep the impression of a safe city? Or do we hear about the "feel good" story where a police officer saved someone's cat.

Information and knowledge is power. If you can control information, you can control the people.
 

Giddyuptd

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From what most departments follow is "is it news worthy?... and will it hinder a investigation releasing such?".

It could be a group or division of a department, like Public Information Officers who review it, then it goes through the signatures of that division or PIO then on to up the rank for approval of release.

More or less that order.
 

Giddyuptd

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Time to find a new hobby. Would look at photography if it wasn't so darn expensive to get worth while photos of wildlife. Guess I'm going to have to clear off my sheets of plywood and start laying out my HO gauge train set. Interesting since local police encrypted, have seen and talked to neighbours that have had more problems with vandals, street people, B & Es, theft from vehicles, and theft of vehicles and dial a dopers on local streets. So doesn't seem to have stopped the criminal element.


The way it's going these days, you should see the photographer's hassles dealing with no filming or photos. Those groups will say it's all because of the anti-police younger generation causing paranoia with cameras and other things.
 

mciupa

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So I was wondering... when these radios are deactivated and the media is cut off, who makes the decision of what gets passed on to the media and what does not?

For you in Regina, it looks like there is a Media Unit that controls that.

Read more here: Media Unit
 

Mars_P25

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I worked as a professional TV news videographer for a decade. Having now left media, I don't have any sympathy for journalists whatsoever. Most of them are vile, lazy, narcissistic, back-stabbing pieces of excrement. Let them find their own news. Let them stay up all night clicking "refresh" on Twitter, hoping to catch a lead on some "just happened" incident (I refuse to use the term "breaking news"; it's an overused and abused term for the purpose of hyping something that's of little importance).

But, one thing that really irked me toward the end was the attitude I received from police when I showed up to do my job and document something of public interest. Police hate media. But media are the first people police call (invite) when they have something they wish to show off, or when they require public assistance in locating a homicide/kidnapping suspect or missing person. Guess what? The media isn't your public relations division, officers. I've never understood why media rushes to the cop shop for a "press conference". The cops are the first people who back-stab and trash-talk media as soon as backs are turned.

Speaking on my experience from Winnipeg, maybe it's because the handful of corrupt, abusive officers employed by the WPS refuse to wear body cameras. Or maybe it was the beating of handcuffed, restrained prisoners, or the "knees to the face" while seated in the back of a police car which I witnessed a handful of times. Perhaps it's the accumulative incidents which lead to PTSD and short fuses. But cops in Winnipeg sure hate it when media shows up. "MEDIA ON SCENE!" is voiced to all officers, as soon as the cameras come out. It shouldn't matter, as they should be conducting themselves the same off-camera, as on. Is it the same in Regina, Saskatoon and other prairie cities? I bet it is.

Like the rest of you in the prairie provinces, I grew up listening to the police and the wild, feral animals they protect the public from. It's a job which doesn't come with many perks. Respect from the public is questionable; I certainly wouldn't want to volunteer any association with law enforcement as a career choice.

There are areas of contention and concern which must change, if police want to repair the respect which used to be afforded with policing. A good start would be transparency, a reform of investigative process for officers charged with a crime, prioritization of policing resources based on input from the public, BODY CAMERAS and all internal police communications (ALL radio talkgroups, phone calls, text messages, computer usage, etc.) should be logged.

Perhaps a little bit of a rant, but when discussing encryption/locking out the media, we are essentially discussing transparency and accountability, and the public's access/awareness of what's going on around them.
 

georgesharpe

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I used to live in Winnipeg, and I understand where you are coming from. I've seen just what you have, and it's not just the police but the WFPS as well, that are not too fond of media coverage. Things are not quite so bad in Regina, and for years now, I've been happy to come no closer to Winnipeg than at 35,000 feet flying over it on my way to the east.
 

Hit_Factor

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I used to be a cop, and I understand where he is coming from.

Only time a reporter called to see if anything was happening - was immediately after graduation from Journalism school.

If they could accurately report events, I would talk to them again.
 

Mars_P25

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Here's an incident I remember fondly. This should provide clarity as to what actually goes over the air on encrypted radio systems.

This transmission is from Winnipeg Police Service talkgroup 1-A, on Sept. 23, 2016. Police were guarding a serious assault scene across from the MTS Centre (where the Winnipeg Jets play) in the downtown. Here's the incident:

Serious assault sends man to hospital, closes downtown Winnipeg street

During the course of "guarding the scene", a Community Support Unit (CSU) officer decided to be a piece of excrement, and trash-talk the videographer who was there from CTV (not me). The officer did this over the encrypted radio system. Here is the recording:

Wps-1a-09232016-055619

I obtained this recording through a Freedom of Information request. It is documented, here:

https://winnipeg.ca/clerks/fippa/pdfs/requests/2016/September.pdf (See request #0839)

Of course in the letter they sent me, they refused to identify the officer(s) involved. I bet they nearly pooped themselves just a bit, when they had to (painfully) listen to that recording and accept it was going to be released to the public. Sadly, nothing came of it.

This is the caliber of officer the WPS employs and the level of respect they have for the media. So please excuse me for giving zero foxtrots as to any perceived notion to act as the public relations office on behalf of an encrypted police service :)
 

Saskwonder56

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Moose Jaw Police are the same way, they're friendly with media and for the most part transparent more than Saskatoon or Regina. But they're encrypted, so the public can't hear comments like the one the WPS officer made over the air. Its sad that law enforcement is not about wanting to protect or help anybody anymore...Its become a political, money hungry, untrusting game of chess.
 
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I regularly watch live satellite news feeds and I see what goes on when these reporters ask " Are we live ?" or " are we on air ?" Their handler responds "No".

The reporter cares most about how they look on camera.

The reporter is without any compassion for the victim/s.

They report the story live from a stockade set up by the police.

They simply repeat what they are told to say by a director in a control room in NYC or LA.
 
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