Terrell pd and FD scrambled

[gearhead21]

Terrell pd and FD have gone to a scrambled system as of yesterday. About three months ago while speaking with the police chief, he told me he would not go encrypted because the next town (Forney) had gone encrypted and there have been many problems with communication in critical situations.
I have recently talked with the Kaufman county Sheriff, who also told me they would not go encrypted and so far they haven’t.

 

[kmartin]

Terrell pd and FD have gone to a scrambled system as of yesterday. About three months ago while speaking with the police chief, he told me he would not go encrypted because the next town (Forney) had gone encrypted and there have been many problems with communication in critical situations.
I have recently talked with the Kaufman county Sheriff, who also told me they would not go encrypted and so far they haven’t.

I feel in some cases using Encryption really isolates police from getting info out to other agencies about chases and other police emergencies , they are really isolated , in most cases the can't switch to another agencies frequency and other agencies can't talk to them , even if they have moved to another channel with encryption and left the old primary open for mutual aid in some cases they might not hear a call on the old main channel ! This happens a lot here in Galveston, such as outside units trying to reach Galveston PD on the old main channel and the dispatcher doesn't reply , they then have to call them by phone and this takes time ! I know some systems like NTIRN have a law I/I call channel for mutual aid , however, if an agency doesn't have this capabilities then what ? I just feel that the state of texas should have a better interop system in place , like frequencies in VHF / UHF / and 700/800 MHz that all police radios can connect to regardless , back in the early day 155.370 /154.950 were used for this purpose ,

 

[Gopher]

Van Alstyne PD is encrypted, and the FD is not. They have to patch the channels to talk to each other, and it's quite comical to hear the panic in everyone's voices when they forget to unpatch.

The Outlet Mall Shooting in Allen was another interesting event, listening to Allen, McKinney, and Plano trying to communicate with each other.

I know.

 

[jason51]

That is the exact reason why interop channels are in place on these systems.

 

[kmartin]

That is the exact reason why interop channels are in place on these systems.

And there seems to be a lack of training on how to use these new toys , let's just throw them in the water ! sink or swim !

 

[hlamb120]

Terrell FD I can still hear them clear. I did hear an announcement on Terrell PD dispatch last week GMRS talkgroup 601 telling everyone to go to tac 2. Talkgroup 601 has been dead ever since. I think talkgroup 609 is their encrypted channel. I can still hear fire dispatch and the firefighters on talkgroup 611

 

[Project25_MASTR]

That is the exact reason why interop channels are in place on these systems.

Encrypted interop channels exist too.

 

[kmartin]

Encrypted interop channels exist too.

True but usually for just city use major systems interop are generally in the clear this is because other agencies don't have encryption key or encrypted radios

 

[Harold]

I feel in some cases using Encryption really isolates police from getting info out to other agencies about chases and other police emergencies , they are really isolated , in most cases the can't switch to another agencies frequency and other agencies can't talk to them , even if they have moved to another channel with encryption and left the old primary open for mutual aid in some cases they might not hear a call on the old main channel ! This happens a lot here in Galveston, such as outside units trying to reach Galveston PD on the old main channel and the dispatcher doesn't reply , they then have to call them by phone and this takes time ! I know some systems like NTIRN have a law I/I call channel for mutual aid , however, if an agency doesn't have this capabilities then what ? I just feel that the state of texas should have a better interop system in place , like frequencies in VHF / UHF / and 700/800 MHz that all police radios can connect to regardless , back in the early day 155.370 /154.950 were used for this purpose ,

Seems like you are not familar with this document.
https://www.dps.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/iod/interop/docs/texasscip.pdf

As far as NTIRN. All the agencies on the system have access to the INTEROP Channels. Even some of the neighboring agencies on different systems can find their way there. ISSI is one means. The biggest issue is training the Dispatchers and Folks out on the streets. The Tarrant side, Federal and State agencies seem to have it mastered, the Dallas side has some work to do.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Seems like you are not familar with this document.
https://www.dps.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/iod/interop/docs/texasscip.pdf

As far as NTIRN. All the agencies on the system have access to the INTEROP Channels. Even some of the neighboring agencies on different systems can find their way there. ISSI is one means. The biggest issue is training the Dispatchers and Folks out on the streets. The Tarrant side, Federal and State agencies seem to have it mastered, the Dallas side has some work to do.

The Texas Statewide Interoperable Channel Plan is starting the process to be rewritten this year actually.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

True but usually for just city use major systems interop are generally in the clear this is because other agencies don't have encryption key or encrypted radios

I think you'd be surprised if you looked into operations not in the DFW area and possibly outside of the state. On a national level, lets just say there are federal interop keys that any public safety agency can sign an MOU to obtain for the purpose of being interoperable and secure. They are successfully being used for interop purposes on conventional and trunked systems...even in Texas. It's part of the reason why the SCIP in Texas (linked above by @Harold) is now requiring all grant funded radios to have mulit-key AES.

 

[kmartin]

Oh yes , federal level for sure !

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Oh yes , federal level for sure !

And the state and local level. That's the reason why the federal interop keys exist. Just something to keep in mind, keep an eye out for CKR's 3/6/12/14, especially when you see patches on talkgroups you know are already encrypted.

See Page 78 (numbered on the booklet not in the PDF) https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/NIFOG_Ver_2.0_508_version_FINAL_9_23_2021.pdf

 

[hlamb120]

I have been hearing a lot of key up transmission on Terrell PD Dispatch (GMRS talk group 601). Hopefully they go back to it.

 

[kmartin]

And the state and local level. That's the reason why the federal interop keys exist. Just something to keep in mind, keep an eye out for CKR's 3/6/12/14, especially when you see patches on talkgroups you know are already encrypted.

See Page 78 (numbered on the booklet not in the PDF) https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/NIFOG_Ver_2.0_508_version_FINAL_9_23_2021.pdf

Thanks for that information , I will read up on this. I can say for sure here in Galveston outside agencies trying to talk to Galveston PD dispatcher , example a few days ago DPS was on the Old main channel trying to contact the dispatcher and after several tries never got a reply and this happens quite often 😢

 

[Russell]

A little newer, but encryption info is the same

https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/NIFOG%202.02_508%20FINAL%20VERSION%2012%2003%202024.pdf

 

[Project25_MASTR]

A little newer, but encryption info is the same

https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/NIFOG%202.02_508%20FINAL%20VERSION%2012%2003%202024.pdf

The info between point releases doesn't change much. Mainly corrects misprints or other little things. One of these days maybe we will see the one thing that is missing from the National Deployable Trunked System that is needed get added in.

 

[kmartin]

I guess seagoville will be next to go E