Police scanner encryption is becoming common across the United States. I break down why it's happening and why I think it's a disturbing trend. Let me know your thoughts by "liking" and commenting below!
I AGREE WITH YOUR OPINION. There are times when certain channels or operations should be encrypted but the routine dispatch channels should be in the clear.
Yes with criminals now finding out where the police are which scanner apps like broadcastify and others I think that's one very good reason why the police have to basically encrypt their radios while on digital but as for us we're going to be left in the dark as matter of fact we're going to be so far in the dark it's not even funny. However, I think the police departments need to rethink what they're doing before they go encrypt their radios because basically if you encrypt radios that means criminals can figure out another way to find out where the cops are if they can't listen to encrypted radio with their with their scanner apps on their phones.
Exactly, a few channels for personal info, tac, although all other channels open for checks and balances... When i used to work security, i had scanners close to hear what was coming to a property i was patrolling, and be able to be a good witness, ir be able to assist local PD
Theodore Bear - If you have a Smartphone you use Encryption for Every call. your Smartphone has Higher Level of Encryption than Digital Police Radios. - though I can still HACK your MIC and listen to conversations even if you are NOT making a call. You can also buy 900 MHz eXtreme Family Radio Service, or DMR radios (with License). eFRS radios are always Encrypted. you can Encrypt DMR radios but HAM operators are supposed to operate in the CLEAR.
@@markplott4820 Those eXRS radios were garbage. Theyre not even digital. Theyre analog NFM operating in the 900mhz ISM band and they hop slow (every 250ms). They can be monitored with a consumer grade near field receiver such as Optoelectronics Scout. DTR radios *are* digital (VSELP) and hop to a new frequency every 90ms.
eXRS are both Frequency Hopping and Spread Spectrum, so while you could capture the Slow Hop, you cant Demodulate the Audio if they were SCRAMBLED. at the time was Legal to do. but Agree, they were Crap but they WERE coming out with Consumer REPEATERS that were FHSS and Scambled. and having a FIXED Stubby antenna did not help it Any. just like with FRS.
I think as a member of the public we shouldn't be kept in the dark on what's going on in the area. Especially in such dangerous times with the coronavirus out there. I'm all for open communications for all emergencies so we can use our brains and avoid them when possible, or have the most up to date information so we can best weather them. As taxpayers I think we also have a right to know where our taxes are going, too.
I really appreciate this video. I have listened to police and emergency channels for over forty years. My local police department recently encrypted their transmissions, which to me is hugely detrimental to the citizens of our small town. For decades it has been the ONLY meaningful way to know what was going on. I agree that sting operations, etc., should be encrypted somehow but ours already were. Frankly I find it frightening.
That would be transparency! government officials cannot be transparent... it also kills me that you can’t hear transmissions but the call logs are public and can be obtained with a FOIA request.
No we shouldn't. People's lives and safety and that of police as well supersedes our curiosity. Now day any idiot can listen to the cops in their phones, that is a huge problem.
@@BikerGirlTraveler the average teenage drug dealer will not go through blogs and forums to find out their system, frequency and then buy a 500 dollar scanner to listen to it, I highly suggest partial encryption but full encryption is bs
I agree with each of your points. Listening also increases my appreciation for the work our public servants do each day. With Encryption, we are moving toward a secret police state.
2005 forward it essentially is a SecretPolis estado...... America has a Stasi type group called Gangstalking. ignore the 99{of a 100} crazy wackotalkers, disinfo bigots, lunatix, junkys, sweep off all the garbage and find the legitimate 1% (all creeds all colors all ages all demographics) and find out tha painful hard truth
As a former swat instructor I can tell you we stayed radio silent. There are other encrypted options other than radio that we deployed. One such option most folks can utilize is encrypted cell network calling. It's digital. As long as the cell signal is good it is a great secure alternative and Google play has a couple apps. But Android based apps have security limitations which brings encrypted Linux based communications into the arena. Linux even has fairly secure gps not based on Google. So don't get too hung up on just encrypted digital radio because the big boys aren't even using it.
Having been a Denver resident for over 20 years and a scanner enthusiast I hope Colorado can pass a sensible bill on this. I had the app on the iPhone and I remember the time where I was like oh it no longer works. I think there is a need for public to know what their civil servants are doing. I understand also undercover swat and those types that need encryption.
@Mdmchannel like any system it can be literally anywhere conventional or trunked, dmr, nxdn and most do use encryption since it's free on the mid tier radios and digital modes offered for nothing.
So much for transparency!!! I was in law enforcement and even was a small town police chief at one point. Not once, did I have an experience of criminals using scanners. It may happen but not often enough to justify locking out law abiding citizens...
I caught a cold-blooded murderer because I was listening to a police scanner and happened to be where the suspect was and identified him and flagged down a cop. Suspect was in the midst of hiding the murder weapon when we saw him and the guy ended up getting 18 years to life. I suspect there are more good guys with scanners than bad guys.
Given what is going on at this time around the world , what is your opinion now on Encryptions? If & when citizens have decided to bug out what should citizens buy ? 2 way radios or ham radios or a cb?
@@ptrombley444 HAM or an actual GMRS radio with repeater capabilities if you're worried about doomsday. GMRS licenses are relatively cheap and don't require a test. And building a repeater for one isn't terribly difficult if you know the basics of radio technology.
Our local police has actually found several criminals using cheap baofeng radios to monitor local police during their home breakins. They are debating going encrypted because of it.
@@JoshTaylor2602I don’t believe that at all 😂 most criminals aren’t going to even be aware of what a baofeng is or how to program or use them.. most criminals are retarded as fuck and high as sin.. also every police station for the past like 30 years has been using trucked systems so a baofeng won’t be of any use anyways to any criminal… you’d need a scanner with a decoder and you’d still periodically get garbage instead of coms.
I have a funny feeling , that when qualified immunity is revisited ( and I believe it will be revised) it will change. Remember people, it's all public record /FOIA . The police are funded by the people they serve. Their problems have come about because the police have abused their own authority. Good video👍
Correct PSP has arrested 6 of their own just in 2022 because encryption has allowed certain officers to "Hide" from their superiors and other officers. Sadly there are bad apples out there that became officers, including beating the background checks, etc.
Pasco County, FL just recently switched to encrypted digital radio. No longer can hear any police, fire rescue, but can still hear fire rescue dispatch. I agree that full encryption is overkill and should only be for extreme situations as you mentioned.
Did just the police go encrypted, or did other government agencies follow their lead in you area? We have cities in Colorado where even the parks department and snowplows have gone silent. That’s ridiculous.
@@K0LWC Everything is now encrypted except a few volunteer fire departments private frequencies, and the the local hams. Anything police or city fire, streets, or transit are useless to listen to. I don't even bother turning my scanner on now. My ham radio has a better receiver so I just use it to monitor our club's repeater.
I 100% agree with you, dispatch, tac, and c2c channels should be open, but undercover ops and stuff like that where you don't need people just showing up because it would ruin the whole thing. I feel like encryption makes things more complicated, especially if your department switches their key every couple of days or something just so that people who brute force it can't keep listening. If you don't have a way to just pump out the new key over the internet or some kind of private data channel, it makes things harder for not only the officers (e.g. what if one of them has an out of date key in their radio), but also for the techs who program them because you have to plug them in one by one and upload the config. I'm not a ham radio operator myself but I am definitely super into radio, haven't gotten my license because I live in the middle of nowhere and nobody within 150 miles does testing. Anyways, encryption is too overused today.
Then use FOIA and get it later. You don't need to know police operations in real time. You pay the CIA too and they don't tell you everything. Accept it.
I want to get in to scanners again from analog days.I live in Reno nv what handheld scanner do you recommend?I would like to listen to casinos like Atlantis,GSR but they are dmr mototrbo…police are dmr I think.Washoe county.What do you use?Thanks for the help👍
There is no reason for encrypting regular dispatch calls. Many of us out there have assisted police after hearing calls on the radio. More so than any two bit criminal burglarizing a home or business. If there is an undercover operation going on or a warrant arrest then encrypting is necessary. I didn't see in any comments where Police Laptops were mentioned. My local police isn't encrypted but it is quiet most of the time because of calls being sent via computer. Also police use their smart phones to talk as well. So it isn't just encryption we should be concerned with for sure.
Yes, texting via computers is becoming more common. I’m not as concerned with that because that’s a choice they can indeed make, but simply encrypting radio transmissions is another matter entirely.
As a Ham I was wondering if the P-25 Ham radios will receive everything except if their encrypted? Or does Trunked screw everything up? I do agree encrypted is necessary certain times. With analog dispatch was able to encrypt or scramble when it was needed. Will the Uniden SDS200 be able to receive encrypted transmissions? I've considered taking up a collection, buying one and put it on the Internet.
Interesting point about cell phones. Denver Police use cell phones for sensitive stuff, they don't even have encryption as a regular feature in their radio system.
actually that isn't quite true, you can monitor anything on zello you might not be able to respond as long as you have a data connection you can use almost anything you want in terms of apps.. roger wilco team speak Zello skupe Msn mess facbook mess yahoo mess Hate to tell you this your cell hones will be a dead dick in an emergency and that doesn't matter what encryption you use.. you can't have encryption and expect you have an open mic night with no access commissions for general radio operations use.. Then again first responders sit in terms of comms in vhf/uhf land you can not circumvent federal laws to suit law enforcement because you end up cb and hams not want to help in an emergency situation and you can't can't lok people out because you are effectively breaking encomm and federalrgs due to wanting to stop listening in which i already know can't happen..
So you I listen to your video and I have a old triple trunk analog handheld which obviously is no good. So is it worth buying a digital? I live in San Bernardino County? How else can you listen to the police in my area. Please advise
Check and see if your local frequencies are encrypted or not. If yes, a digital scanner will do no good regardless. RadioReference.com is a good source.
I encourage fellow people to write to their representatives in Congress about this and explain why this is an issue. It's literally a safety issue where people around them cannot hear what's going on. Especially second responders, people like Amateur Operators who have the ability to help and supplement, etc. Everything other than personal information or super confidential stuff needs to be in the clear.
I remember the old days where you could hear a lot. I had old analog Realistic Pro-34 handheld and Bearcat 16 channel scanners. I remember listening to a number of things, including when you could still (legally) hear cordless (46 MHz) and old cellphone frequencies (800 MHz). Many of those cordless and cell conversations got really juicy. LOL! I don't have the Pro-34 anymore, but still have the Bearcat. There's still stuff on analog, but not much anymore.
Ha! I grew up next to a large apartment complex directly across the street from my parents home. Needless to say the cordless phone frequencies were lively during the 90s! 🤣
I work with law enforcement doing traffic control and I want to know when someone is shooting some where and know what danger is going on so I can hear any threats that may be going on in our City or im going to quit all together because I don't get paid to do this it's all voluntary ☹️!!!!
As they become the secret police, they learn to keep more of what they do secret. There have already been court cases about this and there need to be more. I'd like to see agencies forced to put their communications online.
Great channel and love content. In the late 90s 2000s in Toronto, I noticed that the police were changing and going up to 900mhz and beyond. This meant that you would have to get your scanner tweaked to receive a clear and clean signal.
In Torrance I have a digital scanner and a picks up the other PD perfect if it did go encrypted but Torrance PD I cannot find the frequency in Torrance California would you be able to help me out find their new encrypted frequency maybe my digital scanner can pick them up
No on encryption. I like listening to what is happening in my county. Also, I have a handheld so I know what is happening in areas I travel. I like to be informed so I can stay safe on the road
Way back when I was exposed to Police Radios/Scanners my local Police Department had a scramble setting they could use to garble their transmissions. Dispatch would for instance say 312 scramble 1. And they could have their conversation and to us in scanner land it was a gambled message. When they were done they went back to normal traffic. I think this would be just fine now. With sensitive traffic encrypted. Normal traffic in the clear.
Do you know what kind of radio system your county/city uses? If you're in an area where they still use analog you'll save a ton of money by purchasing a cheaper scanner. If they are digital/trunked you'll need to spend more to listen in. I would look at the BCD436 or the SDS100. The BCD436 can be found for around $400 and can do digital and analog so you'll be covered no matter what. It also allows you to punch in your zip code and it programs everything for you- that's a huge plus for beginners. The SDS100 is the latest and greatest version of the BCD436 from Uniden.
I"m not super familiar with scanners but I used to listen to a generic one until my area encrypted. I wonder if a freedom of information request for encryption codes or whatever would be a viable path in some way.
A few citizens groups got together with class action law suits. Essentially making certain county's in our Commonwealth permanently ban encryption until the end of time. It was interesting. Commissioners EMA and everyone involved in passing the encryption were all named in the lawsuit. It never went to court.
I'm still stuck back in time. I have a 400 channel analog scanner and still in use. I can get the city's police and Fire Department (I live about 35 kilometres away). I cannot get the R. C. M. P. anymore but I get all the surrounding villages fire departments which I like.
Public safety? The security of our nation depends on openness, especially with the public. I'm outraged at the thought anyone would think the public has no right to know what is going on in his own area . Go back in your homes, let the police decide! What is next, no more juries in court!!! You taxpayer supported PS guys shouldn't decide that course of action, lest it slowly IS becoming a police state. I can't listen to my own local PD on a trunked totally encrypted system! So I don't trust the local politicians who seem like wanna be daddies to the residents who allow them to have such a radio system. Twenty years in this awful state and more and more people here seem to be giving up on participating in local politics and this is just a small example of how close we are as a fascist democracy we seem to have.
Longtime scanner fan ( 1963) . Like the military there is info that is not intended for the general public remember loose lips sink ships. That being said I totally agree in that dispatch and routine operations should be public domain because, like you mentioned WE, the people, fund them. They are Civil Servants and our employees so we get to have a seat at the table. Never good to give 100% authority to ANY Agency but especially a government entity. OPEN those lines of communication folks. Good video. Thanks for sharing.
Wayne Powell agree too a certain point but if they really are civil servants and our employees than why do we not have the wright too fire a crooked cop when they are caught.?. because of the unions. the police dept can't even fire them until they go through the grievance process which is stupid in itself because everybody knows they are guilty.
@@robertrockwell7581 Yeah, did I mention the fact that there is a huge interface (politics) that must be scaled or disabled ? Largely much like the reasons that we the people do not get measures on the ballot like voting on Congressional raises etc.... see how that works ? Grrrr.
The "we fund them" argument doesn't hold water anymore. With the requirement to send voice data, images and video, your so called rights to monitor the emergency services channels has gone. Terrorism covers so many areas -and yes it covers radio communications. Get used to seeing the emergency services wearing ear pieces and forget the typical audio blaring out of vehicles or motorcycles.
@@LAPGOCHINSTRUCTOR Well it will always hold water with this old guy. They may "Own" the content of the broadcast but they DO NOT own the radio waves that carry them. Of course they will continue to infringe upon our legal "rights" with things like the Patriot act and others but that , as well, does not grant them unlimited power. Yes in the name of "Security" they can & will umbrella most things. I agree that some things should be guarded but my list is much shorter than theirs by far. Just have to keep legal pressure on them to slow down the process and deny Carte Blanche all the time.
I like your setup. Is that the new Icom scanner/receiver behind you? If so, how is it and is it worth the money. I'm in a very compromised area and unable to have anything but Dual Band right now. Wife doesn't want to move so I'm stuck. I think I'll continue to listen and hit the repeaters, at least something is better than nothing at all. I have a nice antenna for listening outside but no way can I have my Ham stuff up and running. Looks great! 73, K9HDT!
Encryption should be allowed for sensitive communications. Not all police calls are sensitive. We need to know what is going on around us since the media cannot be everywhere at anytime.
Any police call should be public information seeing as we pay their salaries, for this communication networks, their weapons, their vehicles, their training etc… everything they do should be public knowledge!
I am also a ham radio operator and I rely on my police radio a lot I'll tell what scanners I use the Uniden HP 1 Harris P7100 800mhz Harris P7100 VHF yaesu FT70DR and the Motorola Astro Saber 3
I am in Public Safety and one of the reasons we do not encrypt all traffic is due to packet loss. We have seen a packet get dropped and part of the conversation is lost. There was discussion on encrypting all system traffic including Fire, Public Works, etc. The other issue is if you are using AES 256 then you have to use a key loader, an additional piece of equipment and additional keys to manage. Interoperability with other agencies and users becomes a huge problem. Throw a gateway or tactical interoperability bridge into the mix and your encryption is now worthless. Audio In Audio Out.
I have been a shortwave listener since I was 13 years of age. I listened to shortwave radio, picked up AM broadcast stations and even distance TV stations. I even picked up news of the arrest of a Catholic bishop in Cuba and got the news to a local newspaper and they published the news. I became a ham radio operator later in life. I am NØUWY. In about 1972 I started working hospital security. About that time I had a four channel crystal pocket scanner. One time I was getting ready to step off the curb into a narrow street. I heard a police officer give his radio number and say car chase and location and it was a few feet from me. I did not step in the street. Just then the car he was chase passed me at a high rate of speed and then the police officer passed me and then turned on his emergency equipment and then a few feet down the street the car the officer was after crashed. If I had not heard that radio call I would have been hit, for sure, maybe by both cars. I spent over 30 years working hospital security. I can't count the number of times that me being able to monitor police calls I could help the police and often get out of their way. One time they had a program of high way patrol officers riding with a city, KCMO, officer in high crime area for some training. One time I heard the beep beep beep "assist the officer" call. The state officer took off on a foot chase of a person and the Kansas City officer lost the state officer and had no idea where he was. I was just a block or two away and I drove over and found the state officer and called our dispatcher and had them inform KCPD so the officer could come over to the state officer. I can't count the number of times we help the police and plus we got information that we needed. Not long after that the Kansas City PD went to encryption. Our hospital paid for one KCPD HT so our dispatch could monitor. But that was just for our dispatch center and the officer there was always too busy to even monitor. So our three officers on outside patrol had no idea what was going on in the area. I agree, of course, with KØLWC, that some QRGs do need encryption. I also agree 100% that this is a plan to take away the bands that we use and sell them for money. People do not understand the many services that hams provide for people at zero cost. There are 700,000 hams in the United States. The next nation is Japan with 400,000 hams and then fewer and fewer numbers after that for the rest of the world. Oh I forgot one story. Back around 1955 or so I did a weekly radio program that was broadcast around the world over shortwave radio. It was broadcast over shortwave broadcast station WRUL in New York. I recorded at KMBC in Kansas City (MO) and it was sent to WRUL. Anyway each week as part of the program I would broadcast a radio signal from a satellite. Elmo Melton, I forget his call now, had a 45 rpm out with "The Sounds of Space" on it. He said I could use sound from his 45 rpm. Well Elmo Melton a ham found a number of times satellites in orbit that NASA had lost! He called them and gave them the information so they could find their missing satellites. 73, Jim NØUWY.
@bart Simpson Before cell phones when they were talking about the coming of cell phones on CSpan I called into the talk show. I expressed my feelings that they should build in the encryption in the phones and not pass a law that a person could not listen to them. The CSpan host cut me off right away. I was surprised at his action. He wanted cell phones to come right away. When cell phones first came out I knew a ham that had an HT that would scan those QRGs. He was listening to people talking on them. It was nothing I wanted to hear. Just a bunch of people talking late at night, we worked the night shift, and hooking up or something. Not interesting. There were mobile phones in cars before cell phones. You could hear a doctor calling the hospital or someone calling about a real estate appointment or something. Also not interesting. Those people seemed to think that no one could hear them.
FYI inside 1 World Trade Center the firemen could only communicate with their command sporadically, and sometimes not at all. The guys were constantly talking into their radios "say again, say again," and only garbled responses came out. Apparently the NYPD did not have these issues. Not sure why. Also the Port Authority workers were in constant communication. Those dudes kept calm and helped a lot of people find their way out, including myself, and don't get the credit they deserve.
The video showed they use AES-256 for encryption. You'll play hell trying to break it. It is used by the government to transmit Secret and Top Secret data. AES-192 requires less computations, and it's used to transmit only Secret data. EIther one guarantees that you'll never break AES unless you have super computers and several thousand years of constant brute force computations to do it.
Yes they do and you get occasionally some former CB radio operator like me I've been doing this for 40 years almost and I can tell you from experience I've heard a lot of stuff but as far as encryption is concerned I think that's going to be a very big problem for criminals especially robbers and alike. However, I think there is needs to be a way to ban encryption altogether. Because, I still think that encrypting Police radios and scanner frequencies are a very bad idea. And that's going to cause fake news CNN not to get any information. so I see where everybody's coming from here. That's why I think we need to put a stop to it and put a stop for this encryption before any more people get hurt. Because we have to know what's going on in our neighborhood. And with encrypted police scanners I don't think we're going to have any trouble finding out that we ain't going to be able to find out anything.
@@leonardbrinkman4410 You make some very good points about encryption. We the public deserve to hear public service transmissions; however, there is no law that states they can't use encryption. Just like us, encryption is legal. The U.S. government tried to ban encryption in the 1980s, because they wanted to protect all transmissions at our expense. They found that independent researchers developed RSA. and by the time they tried to ban it, it was all over the place. They lost control of encryption at that point, but today we wouldn't be able to communicate securely on the internet and elsewhere. if they had succeeded, commerce wouldn't be where it is today. In other words, encryption is good, government bans is bad.
Some radios have a switch on them that turns encryption off and on. I have heard surveillance opps in the clear, when they were supposed to be encrypted.
January 28, 2019. 7 cities PD's and FD's in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County are about to go encryption any day, ending my nearly 50 year run of analog listening. That really sucks!
Back a long time ago, in the 70s, there was a police department that talked racist talk at night. They were very open about it. I was shocked that they had no fear of doing it. It was the Grandview (MO) police department.
I believe transparency is important in law enforcement, especially these days. There are ways to balance officer safety and transparency, and the right choice is not encrypting everything, in my opinion.
I got into scanning in 1991. It was a different world for sure. You could hear pretty much anything, including cell phones and handheld portable phones. I personally don't believe the digital networks were all that great in improving communications. When one city near me launched their trunked analog system it was a nightmare for them. Same for the largest city I live in, where the new APCO25 system just required so many repeat transmissions. They really had to build the system up with more equipment to cover all the areas effectively. I don't really care for digital simply because it's an "all or nothing" mode of communication. With analog you can fade the signal somewhat and still make out what the other party is saying. Digital will just cut out, as we've seen with television being digital now. I also think the frequency choice of 700 and 800 mHz are poor choices. The argument that bands were too busy is so overblown. All they did was move into the higher frequencies and abandon VHF. You can scan around a busy city in the VHF range and probably never hear anything. Having a shared system makes sense and inter-agency frequencies always existed, but not too many agencies had radios with the same channels. All in all, it's a shame that radio is dying. The internet and cell phones have killed off many aspects of ham radio, scanning, and even music radio or TV. Police now rely heavily on CAD (computer-aided dispatch) and don't need to use the radio nearly as much. All in all, I really only wish the local PD would not encrypt all their "hot" calls. The dispatch is clear, but anything remotely interesting is sent to an encrypted channel. Back in the day without encryption, hot calls were rarely anything that would compromise an operation. Sometimes the most you'd hear was a foot chase or similar. When people started complaining about encryption online, police officers claimed criminals used scanners too often and it made their job hard. I don't buy that. I think in all the years I listened I hear maybe two times where a scanner was referenced by PD after a call. We've all watched COPS and other shows and a scanner was like finding a gold nugget in the wild.
Smartphones have become the death of scanning. Too many live streams enabling the general public to easily listen in with no technical knowledge needed.
About a month or so ago Louisville Metro Police went to a 15 minute delay on their dispatch being able to be scanned. I can still get it online, but I can no longer receive it on my Uniden Home Patrol 2. I can still get fire dispatch, and Metro EMS is encrypted due to HIPPA regulations. I have been listing to a scanner for about 50 years, it is a very useful tool. I have heard about any thing you can think of. Does anybody have any ideas.
It kinda backfired on them because since the signal is digital, it breaks up and has gaps in voice communication where in the past it would have been static but understandable. Also has a very low bitrate mp3 sound when it works.
How do I know what scanner to buy? How do I know what scanner will work in my area or state ? Do they need to be programmed? I'm a newbie I'm in to CB RADIOS
I used to have analog equipment. Loved it.... spent tons of money on scanners and antennas. But now with digital we got left behind..I don't know whether to buy a digital scanner or download an app.im in middle Ga if anyone has any feedback 4 me ..lmk please
I live in San Diego county and I'm so glad that very few channels are encrypted, and they're mostly SWAT, gang units, and other stuff you'd expect to be encrypted. But It's really stupid how they're even allowed to encrypt normal dispatch, especially with the current situations going down, it seems like it would create more tension between the public and the pd. I'm also surprised at the amount of smaller counties buying into encryption, considering that even most of Los Angeles's dispatch is analog FM.
Having worked as an Undercover Narcotics Investigator, and having worn a "wire" while doing so, encryption is 100% legitimate, and necessary. However, standard operations, i.e., traffic enforcement, routine complaints, etc., should be broadcast on open frequencies. You're never going to stay one step ahead of the bad guys.
Some encryption Skippy.. Don't tell me. You never violated your oath once while you were employed right? I'M sure your the last Boyscout.. Y" ALL abused your authority , and created your own pr nightmare , because you think y all are above the law.
I believe it should be public. Public servants, public service, public! With an encrypted channel on the side. Say, 95 percent transparent. That could work...?
Nice video. Being a ham for 25+ years and having designed analog radio scanners that far back (for Cobra), there's a lot of misinformation out there. You made a great point about apps taking the technology bent out of hobby scanning. The problem actually started way before digital and 9/11. A certain POTUS (Billy Boy for you youngsters) was recorded on a call on the 800 MHz analog cellular system. At that point, government agencies knew something had to be done. And - even though there is virtually no analog or unencrypted data on that band plan - scanners are still locked out from those frequencies. 9/11 happens and technology caught up; but that leaves law abiding citizens without the means to monitor. For me, the real issue is that my local FD went encrypted, meaning no more monitoring of events that can really cause public safety issues. Plus I have generations of analog scanners, trunked analog scanners and digital "trunkers". What kills me is that I had the digital trunked scanner for only a year or so before they turned on encryption. I agree - encryption for the stuff that needs to be secret. Open for the "normal" items.
@@sethtenrec it’s not wack to have cops monitored. It’s wack to give them so much power. Everyone should have access to good paid for by the public. You’re the nut job
@@gmeister03 I agree with you that cops should not have so much power. What I don’t agree with is your attitude about taxes. Do you think all our military secrets should be public knowledge as well?
26 years in law enforcement, and before this encryption digital crap not once did we ever have a problem with scanner enthusiasts showing up on a scene or a criminal using a scanner to commit a crime. Digital to me SUCKS, the sound is tinny and muffled compared to VHF of old, plus what's worse is you can't just push the talk button and speak, you have to wait or else your sentence will be cut off... It's stupid... And when they started with MCT in car dispatch crap it's just something to take up more space and to take a officers eyes off the road as a distraction. Can you tell I'm old school. We still answered our 911 calls over the radio for decades without a computer in the car. Sometimes the old way is simply better. Then try sitting shotgun in a cop car with a huge ass computer and floor mount taking up the passenger seat area, let alone it's a safety issue for the officer sitting in the passenger seat interfering with the cars air bag . Crazy ... By the way, yeah I use to love to listen to the scanner before I was a cop, now that I'm retired I'm pissed I can't simply listen..
The audacity of law enforcement to believe that their general duties / patrols are so top secret they deserve to hide their radio traffic from their employers is astonishing to me. It should be a serious criminal offence to mask general radio traffic if you're a public servant.
Couple of things, I miss the old days analog radio and television. With digital television, you get a signal or you get garbage. In the old days if you didn’t get a signal you might get a crappy signal but you still got a signal. At least you can watch your favorite shows without a completely dropping out. As for police, my local community went digital, but not encrypted. The problem they were having was if they arrested some kid, before they could get him through the sallyport at the jail the kids grandmother was calling them and asking them why they arrested their grandson. Because everybody in town had a scanner. It became such a problem it was tying up the dispatcher. I do believe we should be able to listen to dispatchers, I agree with what you said about special operations, I wish we could get them to cooperate.
One thing I do miss, is I used to be able to SCAN TV audio frequencies with my scanner, I could even pick up TV Audio from another County or another City. with HDTV its gone silent. and there is NO way for a Digital Scanner to receive HDTV audio. however, HDTV is Evolving, soon ATSC 3.0 will be here and with it, 4K HDR FREE Over the Air Broadcasts, and it comes with FREE Wireless Broadband Internet as well. ATSC 3.0 is compatable with 4K HDTV but you will need a ATSC 3.0 Gateway Receiver with WIFI, that way the Signal is converted to HDMI that your HDTV can use, until NEW HDTV with Dual Tuners ATSC 1.0 / ATSC 3.0 in one unit. and for the First Time ATSC 3.0 will allow HD Quality MOBILE reception of HDTV, in the CAR, BUS, Train , Boat or just walking. at first ONLY your Mobile Devices will be able to connect to HDTV with the ATSC 3.0 gateway receiver over WIFI. but, NEW mobile devices will have Built in ATSC 3.0 Tuner. and ATSC 3.0 is all FREE. for more information search RU-vid ATSC 3.0.
Great video and I agree with your point of view on Encryption. It should be there for sensitive communications but not for routine dispatch channels. This has been a topic and received a lot of feedback on my podcast and I was wondering if you would like to be a guest and talk more about encryption. 73 de W2LIE
When I first started listening to scanners I had the Radio Shack/Realistic 2042 1000-channeler that enabled me to listen to basically everything from soup to nuts -- police, fire, medical, ham/amateur radio, a few fastfood joints, airband, sometimes I could pick up only part of a cordless-phone qso, trains, taxis, college-campus lectures, and other miscellaneous stuff.. that was so freaking awesome! That was also a couple of years back..... I heard some officer/dispatcher talk about "let's not be putting certain informations on the air" such as addresses n such.. next thing I know, scanner reception went down the drain far as that goes.. fast forward to just recently, not too long ago now - Instead of a human in per se the fire/medical dispatch talking the dispatches, omg now instead of being able to hear a comm about a bad accident with vehicles blocking and injuries to boot that just happed like on the street I use every day, I hear a freakin' computer voice saying this: "Unit this, unit that, unit the next unit, MVA, Multiple injury, refer to pager for address"..... Now if I wanted to or needed to go someplace using my everyday street, I am unable to know where on that street I need to avoid, and if there happens to be a mess of squad cars amongst other emergency vehicles blocking my way and diverting traffic, I wind up LATE to wherever I had to be, all because someone didn't want to let scanner-listener me know where not to be!! So it's no damn wonder the COMMUNITY is running out of patience with those who would be foolish enough to dare trample on us!! Know what I say? Y'all can trash the friggin' pagers!! NOW!!!
I've heard some officers say that sometimes a call is not responded to and simply marked as closed. Larger PDs also utilize CAD systems that routinely send the call to a laptop (MDT) I also expect that encryption is easily switched on/off and they can selectively quiet sensitive information. Without being able to activities, we have no idea what's going on in our areas.
You hit the nail on the head. I live in Riverside, CA and we used to be a big help in informing citizens of areas to stay away from, or of a suspect to be on the look out for. No more. The whole county is silent. We hate it! In the city I used to hear of PD back logged 30+ calls and citizens would be pissed at the lack of staffing. To me this is just a case of keeping the public in the blind. Like you said, 90% of radio does not need to be encrypted!
Honorably retired cop, here. As you said, I am okay with encryption of SWAT, Narcotics, etc. Dispatch? Absolutely NOT! I always liked that citizens could listen to us. I actually felt safer that way. Sometimes, the base or system would not work right and citizens would call dispatch and let them know an officer was calling for help but no one was hearing them on the police system. We used to get tips from citizens about crimes in progress they heard of on their scanner, even in the hood. Any Chief or Sheriff who talks of transparency yet has an encrypted radio system needs to STFU.
We have air traffic left untouched in the UK. Both civilian and military. But even the railway has gone encrypted. The UK police have been like this for years now. It's not even worth buying a radio with DMR + NXDN + ProVoice. The cost a bomb, plus if you use them, encryption is free!
In my area, many municipalities leave one or two dispatch police channels open with a handful of tac channels they switch over to as needed. It seems like a good compromise.
For the longest time here in Vegas, everything was encryption but for the Area Commands then one day, it was all encrypted. I think it should go back to being unencrypted for the interest of public safety and for ham radio operations.
Understand some of your opinions about "necessary encryption". But in some cities even the DPW is encrypted. That is going too far. What is next, encrypting the plumbing inspector?
My scanner saved my life. I was on a internet forum.....and we were discussing wristrocket slingshots we had back when we were kids.....and I told the group that I still had my whammo wristrocket out in the pole barn and I would go get it and take a pick and upload it so the forum members who did not know what they were could see it.....just as I was getting ready to go out the back door...the scanner picked up the local pd.....it said my next door neighbor seen a large man with a knife in her backyard...and he had just jumped the fence into my backyard......if not for the scanner...I would have walked out the back door into the dark.....and this psycho would probably stabbed me to death......that is why I am against encryption.
Just stumbled across your channel. I used to use my Baofeng BF-F8HP as a scanner when we would hear sirens because it was easy to keep by the bed. But, now El Paso has shifted everything to digital. I'm not sure if it's encrypted or not, was going to buy a Uniden BearTracker. But, I guess I need to do some more research first. Thanks for the video.
