Petition for Cedar Park Fire

[JonKenobi]

Hey guys! New to the forums but glad to be here.
As a resident of Cedar Park, it bums me out big time that everything is encrypted Living just down the street from a fire station and always seeing them go by wondering what's up and where they're going when a mile down the road Austinites enjoy open communications.
Anyway, does anyone know if it would be possible to petition the city council on this issue? I'm sure most of them are not even aware of it, and for the life of me I don't know why anyone would want to encrypt Fire/EMS.
As it is they do ride-alongs to the community so it is not like they're trying to hide anything (or are they? )
The same goes for Wilco. Though I understand (not agree with, but understand) the want for Police encryption, I do not get the reason why Fire is encrypted as well.
If anyone is interested in starting a petition let me know. I'm guessing one single email from one citizen may not sway them...


Moderator note: stick to the topic of the petition. Please, no rants

 

[kd5vjn1307]

Main reason for alot of departments to go encrypted is personnel safety. The Fire/EMS side is not any different. The EMS side, you get alot of personal information that gets passed along via radio. Fire runs in the same problem if it has EMS/First Responder capabilities.

 

[fasteddy64]

Here in Abilene on our EDACS system, all of the PD traffic is ProVoice which while is not encrypted, is not able to be monitored on any scanner.
On the FD side we do all of our EMS traffic on a Pro-Voice talk group but the rest of our fire traffic is in the clear. Our main thoughts on the EMS stuff is in regards to HIPAA laws and protecting our customers' privacy.

 

[SCPD]

Hi Jon;

Here are some goals worthy of your consideration.

1. Be prepared to debate the subject.
2. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper(s).
3. Write a letter to city council.
4. Write a letter to the fire chief.

Review the arguments for and against encryption made elsewhere on these forums. Be flexible in your proposals. Give them alternatives. For example, ask that they stream the audio online as an alternative to turning off encryption.

Local papers are Williamson County Sun in Georgetown and Hill Country News which seems to cover Cedar Park.

Williamson County Sun, Georgetown's newspaper for 134 years
Hill Country News

Last, but not least, steer clear of politics.

Good luck!

 

[Ronaldski]

Take a look at http://forums.radioreference.com/mi...m/265065-canton-pd-encrypted.html#post1958473

 

[rbarker]

You can hear Cedar Park Fire Tone out on 154.37 (analog)