Tow Truck Driver Arested For Stealing TPS Radios

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VE3RADIO

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At 1:07 "...as much as we've tried to scramble them...". ???????


referring to trunking... i thought the same thing.. but we need to remember the general public does not know about, care about or understand trunking.. essentially trunking just jumbles around the voice channels so you cant follow it.. and i guess scramble is a commoners way to get the point across... he also kept saying that they were not after people who just listen.. as "its no secret" that tow and glass drivers listen in.
 

pathalogical

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Never heard about glass companies listening. I guess for things like B&Es or small fires with minimal damage and the firefighters had to break glass.
 

Jammin_Jay

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This is the more reason for encrypted digital communications for police and law enforcement. This CTV video, will give more of an incentive perhaps. And the incident itself, will probably make the process go even faster to get full digital encryption on TPS, then what was previously planned. That can't be transmitted on , like in the analog smart zone system. Allthough this was probably a not normal incident the police deal with everyday, it is one that may raise eyebrows and the police wanted it aired on CTV. I wonder for all the people watching the CTV clip who have never used a scanner before, might be inclined to do so, or look it up on the internet, and perhaps buy one, for curiosity and also to hear police communications very easily.

For them to find the radio's after a week, and search for them. It brings the question, once a radio is stolen, can it be locked out immediately once an officer reports the loss of it in the car, so it can't transmit on the system, if this what the police was worried about.
 
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mikewazowski

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And the incident itself, will probably make the process go even faster to get full digital encryption on TPS, then what was previously planned. That can't be transmitted on , like in the analog smart zone system.

I'm not sure what your point is. Full digital encryption is possible now on the current Smartzone system which supports both digital and analog. Since this guy stole a TPS radio, a new system wouldn't have prevented him transmitting. Switching the system over to a P25 trunking system still wouldn't have kept him off if he stole a TPS radio.

Digital encryption just means he couldn't have listened in providing they were able to rekey every other radio on the system with a new encryption key or at least wipe out the current encryption key in his radio.

It brings the question, once a radio is stolen, can it be locked out immediately once an officer reports the loss of it in the car, so it can't transmit on the system, if this what the police was worried about.

Andy's Trunk88 log shows that the radio was "stunned" at some point by TPS. This would be the best solution even with a new system. Stun the radio and make it useless.
 

mikewazowski

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so even if they disabled the TX PTT etc, could the radio could still be stunned?

Sure.

While the ack from the radio is reassurance that the command succeeded, the lack of it doesn't mean the radio wasn't stunned.
 

slicerwizard

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CFTO reported today that a tow truck driver was stealing radios from cruisers at a Toronto Police lot.
No, they didn't.


This is the more reason for encrypted digital communications for police and law enforcement.
No offense, but you're not making sense.


For them to find the radio's after a week, and search for them.
They found it a couple of days after it was powered up in the truck.


It brings the question, once a radio is stolen, can it be locked out immediately once an officer reports the loss of it in the car, so it can't transmit on the system, if this what the police was worried about.
Of course it can be stunned, so no, the cops were not concerned about that - despite what they choose to tell the media.
 

bigcam406

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irregardless of whether or not the radios could be used or not,the guy is an ass for doing it period.another black eye for the hobby,thx to this clown.
 

Jay911

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Couple of things..

1. Jim Junkin is still alive?! Holy crap, he was doing the crime beat when I was a kid in Pickering in the 1970s and 1980s. I can remember him driving around north Pickering with his own Betacam, showing up on scenes my father was on with the FD.

2. $10,000 for two MCS2Ks? Yikes. TPS should find a better M dealer.

3. "As much as we try to scramble them" ...? First of all, MCS2Ks don't handle encryption or digital very well. Second of all, it might be easier to try to work with them.. put tow truck companies on a Rotational Service in their CAD, so Monday it's so-and-so, Tuesday it's Bob's Towing, etc. And thirdly, agencies that want to be able to monitor TPS for legit reasons? Sell/rent/issue them radios without TX capability and with only the channels you (TPS) want them to hear. Calgary Police does this with the local media; they only get the main dispatch channels - no tac team, special units like gang, auto theft, etc. - and if the media abuses the privilege, the radio gets a ROS_IDLE command sent to it REAL quick.
 

exkalibur

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MCS2000's? Um no.

The bottom radio is an analog Spectra II, the top radio is a fully digital capable XTL5000. Market value of the XTL is anywhere from 2500 (analog, no trunking) to over 6000 (digital with smartzone trunking), even more with erncryption.

There was a lot of misinformation in this story, but a lot of it was so that the public could understand. Bottom line: Don't steal police radios!!

The MCS2000's they showed in the clip were radios in the CTV truck. Why would TPS first of all label "Toronto Police" and why would they be scanning Toronto Fire Dispatch? Note the small switch plugged into the microphone jacks. This is a custom Lakeshore job that allows the radio to hold on a talkgroup when scanning (IE, flip the switch when a TG you want to hear is talking and it'll hold there untill you switch it back).
 

newtoscanning

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And thirdly, agencies that want to be able to monitor TPS for legit reasons? Sell/rent/issue them radios without TX capability and with only the channels you (TPS) want them to hear. Calgary Police does this with the local media; they only get the main dispatch channels - no tac team, special units like gang, auto theft, etc. - and if the media abuses the privilege, the radio gets a ROS_IDLE command sent to it REAL quick.

I know first hand Global TV has this set up, as you said above, just dispatch talkgroups, for EMS, Police, Fire.
 

exkalibur

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I can assure you with absolute certainty that no media outlet in Toronto has, or ever has had, a radio issued by any emergency service (with the exception of CBC having a MetroNET radio for disaster/CD things) in Toronto. Any radio Global has is one they've purchased and had programmed by a 2-way shop.
 

newtoscanning

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I can assure you with absolute certainty that no media outlet in Toronto has, or ever has had, a radio issued by any emergency service (with the exception of CBC having a MetroNET radio for disaster/CD things) in Toronto. Any radio Global has is one they've purchased and had programmed by a 2-way shop.

Why wouldn't they just buy a bunch of scanners then? I've seen inside their studio they have a radio room with a bunch of /\/\ gear all monitoring different ops throughout the city.

Whatever...
 

Chrome69

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Why wouldn't they just buy a bunch of scanners then? I've seen inside their studio they have a radio room with a bunch of /\/\ gear all monitoring different ops throughout the city.

Whatever...

Because Scanners suck on Audio Quality, If you placed a MCS next to a 996 and listen you can hear the difference. And when time is a factor in the news business you want clear, clean audio to dispatch a camera fast...

I use to be a big Uniden supporter now i can't stand listening to them... Nothing beats the real deal... Now legal issues is another animal....
 

exkalibur

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Every media setup in town uses Motorola rigs. Why? They just work. Very simple. Give an MCS to someone who doesn't know a thing about radios and they'll be an expert in no time. Give a 996 to the same guy, he'll screw it up in minutes.
 
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