Waking this up.
I agree, there's no way having a combined radio system would have prevented something that happened so fast. I think having a scanner, or having an additional radio is much better. However, I do not agree with installing one multi-band radio in their cars and taking all of the other ones out. That kind of defeats the purpose. How would a trooper know when to switch channels without being first told to by dispatch? If he didn't see a car rolling Code to something, he wouldn't know..
In Washington County, some Troopers carry 800 portables in addition to their own radios. In the city of Newberg and Dundee, most officers have UHF radios for the county in their car in addition to their 800 radios.. a K9 there even carries a UHF portable in addition to his 800 portable.
While having a scanner is just as good as another radio, having a scan feature on a multi-band radio could be even more dangerous. If they were listening to something else instead of their own, they could miss something urgent regarding a fellow Trooper, Deputy or Officer.
I think they should completely get rid of encryption, because its unnecessary, if you have to say something that important, use a phone. And have 2 multi-band radios in the car, or 1 multi-band and 1 scanner, or one single-band, and 1 scanner. Seems to me like no one thought of that before spending a bunch of money..