I find it amusing that "criminal enterprises" is the only reason cited above as a possible justification as to why an agency would opt to migrate toward encryption of their voice radio systems.
Why?
Is there another one?
Yes, it's unfortunate that radio "enthuisists" may be relagated to listening to Target store security, local tow truck companies, and school buses, but anyone who was a cop during the NYC riots last summer in 2020, or even those "hobbyists" who sat in their air conditioned homes listening to it, realized then that encryption is something whose time has come. Some here had better wake up to that realization.
The amount of intentional radio interference, not to mention false emergency calls coming over CCRs forcing police commanders to re-direct manpower from the looting and mayhem to respond to them, caused unnecessary issues, both in safety of the officers and further destruction caused by the looting and fires.
This has been compounded by the increased number of false emergency calls transmitted over division radios during "routine" patrol.
If anyone has an "issue" with changes in radio equipment as it relates to their misguided belief that they have some Constitutional right to listen to them, translated into "lack of transparency," should realize that there are political processes to address this "transparency" issue regarding information.
But, if you want to blame someone, blame your fellow hobbyists who RAN to eBay to buy the CCRs, making them well-known and easily obtainable to the "criminal element," giving the American-hating Chinese government an opportunity to infiltrate the country with them.
And this is from someone who, as I write this, has four radios going, monitoring all types of emergency services in the NYC area, but who realizes that those days are, unfortunately, coming to a close (and, with at least one agency, that time is here now).