Have you heard of any other departments going fully encrypted, like very soon ? I was about to get another scanner but if they are all going encrypted I’ll probably save my spare change.
Queen Creek PD activity?
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Have you heard of any other departments going fully encrypted, like very soon ? I was about to get another scanner but if they are all going encrypted I’ll probably save my spare change.
Yea and all their grand opening media talks about community openness ect ect.
I heard through the grapevine that Mesa Police are considering going totally encrypted; there was an article from maybe late spring/early summer.
KB7MIB
Member
Ha - was just reading that article. From what it sounds like they are “thinking” about going fully encrypted. Sounds like nothing is exactly set in stone yet. Lots of hints that they “might” be going encrypted. Phoenix, Gilbert, Peoria, AJ, Glendale and tons of other PD’s out here are all still in the clear ( but a lot of them have encrypted side channels for major incidences etc ). I think it’s gonna stay that way and least for the time being.
Then we have DPS - which is still mostly on an analog UHF system ( but if it works well for them - why change it I guess ).
Been an AZ resident for about 5 years now and in that time I think the only department that had a major radio change was Casa Grande. They went from an old VHF analog channel to a fully encrypted Phase 2 network. Come to think of it - a LOT of rural PD’s here in AZ are still mostly VHF analog.
DeoVindice
P25 Underground
I spend most of my time in Graham County and can confirm all county and municipal traffic here is VHF analog. Greenlee has a Harris P25 voted VHF system operating primarily in the clear.
I do hear some D9 DPS traffic patched onto AZWINS but UHF analog is primary.
Other than the added expense, there's no compelling reason that agencies today should not leverage the technology and go completely encrypted. What's the point in having this expensive technology and not using it to its fullest capability? A handful of scanner hobbyists whining about transparency is not even close to sufficient to justify keeping radios in the clear. Transparency of an agency has never been achieved nor prevented as a result of monitoring radio traffic. It's incredibly naive' to think an agency is "transparent" because you can hear their radio traffic - radio traffic that represents about 10% of their true activity.
Stories abound of suspects using the police scanner app to monitor police activity to further their nefarious acts. There's just way more negative things than positive things that can come from people indiscriminately listening to public safety radio traffic. You can thank the developers of the scanner app and all its feed providers for accelerating this discussion.
Hey, I'm a scanner hobbyist too and have a lot of money tied up in radios that will become fancy paperweights pretty soon. I sorely miss the days when you could listen to the Phoenix hot channel on 154.89, but times have changed. If you could open your mind and think about it from the perspective of the public safety official I'm sure you would gain a better understanding.
Stories abound of suspects using the police scanner app to monitor police activity to further their nefarious acts. There's just way more negative things than positive things that can come from people indiscriminately listening to public safety radio traffic. You can thank the developers of the scanner app and all its feed providers for accelerating this discussion.
Hey, I'm a scanner hobbyist too and have a lot of money tied up in radios that will become fancy paperweights pretty soon. I sorely miss the days when you could listen to the Phoenix hot channel on 154.89, but times have changed. If you could open your mind and think about it from the perspective of the public safety official I'm sure you would gain a better understanding.
While I do agree with you, the encryption issue has been discussed many times. Law enforcement agencies across the country are going encrypted and there isn't much that can be done about it as they claim it is being done in the name of officer safety and to better serve the public. As sad or annoying as it is, it is just an inevitable issue that scanner users are going to have to accept. Public safety radio systems were never designed for the general public to monitor, the mere fact that we can still monitor some is great but that ability will eventually cease. As for scanners becoming paperweights, it all depends on the use. While public safety systems will probably go quiet in the future other communications will be able to be heard, matter of expanding your personal scanning horizons.
n0doz
Member
In an area like this, with a huge amount of drug trafficking going on just a few miles from any of us, it's hard to imagine that any agency is still in the clear. The cartels have their own radio systems that are more sophisticated than many US agencies, and monitoring their routes is a matter of routine. I'd go so far as to speculate that they may very well have bought the keys to some encrypted systems from less-than-scrupulous employees. I'm also a long-time hobbyist, but after a long career in law enforcement, I've seen the changes in the "opposition" to become more organized and ruthless than ever before. They do not see the police as anything but a nuisance to be swatted away, consequently encryption is necessary for cop's safety as much as anything else if not more so. I think it's too late to think that legalizing anything is going to combat them, if the experience in states like Colorado is any indicator.
Moderator Note:
Guys: This thread is about Queen Creek PD's activities. Please discuss the encryption debate elsewhere.
Thank you!
Guys: This thread is about Queen Creek PD's activities. Please discuss the encryption debate elsewhere.
Thank you!
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