22/03/2025
Scanners and radio monitors facilitate the most accurate, effective and most reliable means of transparency and safety information that aids in saving lives each and every day across the country, It has been documented that reports and postings from both communities and media services and many others across the country are used even by government offices and agencies and in other recent events, including the NWS in determining warning issuance and resource responses in many regions.
Due to the unfortunate, unwise, and blatant disrespectful severance of transparency by local police from AA county police, Sheriff, and Annapolis Police in October of 2024, that the lack of real time public service radio communications does prevent a significant amount of critical information from road incidents, flooding, and many other hazards, including your safety from being disseminated to communities, as in a recent example of a documented event in Annapolis, armed car jacker’s were chased into the Eastport area, bailed out on foot, and police negligently did not inform the residents that called in inquiring on what was going on in their own neighborhood that there were armed suspects involved.
When any public service agency or department encrypts the routine radio communications, when a potential dangerous event takes place, even when disaster strikes, natural or otherwise the necessitation of real time reporting is reduced or in much of the cases nonexistent undermining the principle of public safety, a violation of public trust. The option to encrypt is only a choice, and is not mandated by which some agencies intentionally and willfully mislead the public about.
A very recent observation of an apparent edit of the county’s website was made, among several paragraphs of the page being shuffled around, others removed, obviously to modify the narrative, yet again. We all know what it means when the government, either it be a police department or otherwise changes the story around, Inconsistency and contradiction come to light in attempt to sell nonsense to the public. However they at least highlighted the clearer and known reasoning of the want (not need) of encryption on the dispatch channels, the ability to block out public transparency and the community’s ability to be safe, informed, and aware in real time. From day to day to disaster situations.
“Historically, due to limitations in two-way radio communication technology, public safety radio transmissions could be easily intercepted and listened to by using monitors and scanners available on the consumer market. There has been a nationwide push for public safety radio systems to be upgraded to the “P25 Standard”. This nationwide standard enhances the security and interoperability of two-way radio transmissions between public safety agencies. As part of a multi-year project, the Anne Arundel County radio system has been upgraded to the P25 standard, allowing for the encryption of radio transmissions without impacting interoperable communications with allied agencies.“
Lets break this down to simplicity, knowledge, and common sense.
The ability to monitor the public, taxpayer funded, public service radio systems is not a limitation in any way. In fact, it is a public resource that helps in safety, security, and awareness of both the community and those in public service. Encryption is the limitation, the hindrance, and upmost a betrayal to the community’s most effective source of safety and awareness information. It is the means to keep a community in the dark, unaware, and uninformed, to control the narrative from the public, and nothing more. Delayed information is dangerous information.
Encryption was, and always has been available and utilized on the prior P16 AA county radio system from Teletype, Narcotics, and a dozen other tactical channels. To use the introduction of the new P25 system (our tax dollars) now being used as a mere crutch of an excuse to “Now lets encrypt and block the public ” is an insult to injury, and a blatant insult to the residents of the county and across the state. Radio encryption in of itself alienates a public service from the community, simultaneously makes community relations to become mute.
Yes there has been a national push for the P25 protocol, by federal agencies. There are even various publications by federal agencies with purely suggestive language for “their” pushing of state and local law enforcement to go encrypted, to be explicitly clear, encryption is not a requirement on any radio system of any state, county, or local public service. This push of federal influence over state and local law enforcement is deeply concerning, especially when it involves disconnecting transparency and awareness from the community. There are many agencies across the country who have chosen not to waste tax money (including federal grants) on such systems. The intended purpose of P25 was to create universal communications radio platform for all public service all across the country for cross jurisdictional operability, not to block out the public.
Often we will hear such terms tossed around like ”officer safety” Yes, safety from misconduct lawsuits, from accountability and liability, from defense attorneys, and from an involved citizenry. If the past is any proof of how well command members still monitor the radio use, then let the profiling begin or in actuality continue. Because profiling still occurs even to this day. If there is a need to provide confidential info, then by all means use the available MDT / CAD notes and auxiliary “talk around”. Encryption should only be the rare exception, not the rule. Since we live in a free society, (or at least it is supposed to be) that is supposed to be built on transparency and trust with our public servants.
There are substantially more, good and decent people of the community than the very, very minuscule fragment percentage of any criminal types. Our free American society has always placed paramount value in freedom, transparency, and trust. We have always noted and looked at countries that have secret police and authorities that control and block information, it is known in our American way of society as totalitarianism, which way are we now headed? A false sense of privacy over the safety and awareness of a community is a bad direction. Communities care, the people care, and the people deserve unhindered real time transparency, to be aware of matters in the community, in the county, and across the state. We will not stop until we have restoration of real time monitoring in our county. We are never going to stop, we will never back down. This is our county, this is our home.
Encrypting the dispatch channels only serves one purpose. To prevent actual, unfiltered transparency, to prevent an aware and informed public. Community policing is more important now than it ever has been. With a statistical growing distrust and disdain for police in the country, the encryptardedness of the dispatch channels is a step further of such divide and a deepening of that sentiment. Un-encrypting the dispatch channels is the right thing to do. The encryption of the PD dispatch channels, in many ways is analogous to censorship. Also more noticeable is when a public service agency encrypts a radio channel to sever transparency with the public and begins purporting to be “news” falls into authoritarianism.
Public services are just that, public. The lack, reduction, and filtering of fundamental transparency only significantly decreases communication and can and will place the public at greater risk by leaving them blindfolded from their community and surroundings. The Freedom of press becomes one of the greatest losses in the battle for which public services seek to hide from, more smoke and mirrors. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the public monitoring to have the real time ability to avoid situations that could potentially impact them negatively. Public services that cut off transparency are no longer public, but in essence become quasi private, although taxpayers carry the bill. The officer safety excuse does not fly either as they are trained to handle whatever situations they encounter. By stating that, they are essentially saying that officers are improperly or poorly trained. An informed and educated community does not support nor buy the exaggerated claims for encryption, as it allows agencies the potential to manipulate information and avoid responsibilities. Encryption on the dispatch channels is harmful to a community, makes the public powerless and only makes way for control over a free society. Communications has been proven a lifesaver too many times.
https://www.change.org/p/community-safety-awareness-stop-enryption-of-public-service-radio-dispatch
