Posted on 08/06/2023 12:26:40 PM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
In six Brooklyn precincts it is no longer possible for the public to listen in on police scanner radios.
The 40-year-old technology is being upgraded citywide and made so police radios are converted into encrypted channels.
This opens the door for other residents in precincts to lose the ability to listen to police frequencies.
Listening to police scanner radios has helped citizens avoid deadly shootings and allowed the press to report on crimes in real time. However, it is also possible for criminals to listen in and use police officers’ conversations to their advantage.
“We have a history of our radios being used against us,” said Ruben Beltran, chief of information technology for the New York Police Department.
“Our radios are one of the most important technologies, one of the most important tools that we provide to police officers and that we train them in. Because it’s more important than their firearm and anything else they have. In terms of being able to respond to incidents to also being able to request assistance.”
According to Beltran, that capability is thwarted because the channels can be hijacked by their adversaries and bad actors.
He said there is a big history of interference with radios, though did not provide an example at the conference.
In a statement from the City Council they wrote, “Transparency is key to achieving and maintaining public safety. It is troubling that the NYPD began encrypting its radio system without an adequate transparency plan implemented first, which can jeopardize the safety of New York residents.
Journalists, volunteer first responders, and other key stakeholders across diverse neighborhoods rely on the system to help keep people safe and deliver important information.”
Several groups like the New York City Fire Department and EMS are planning to have access to their systems, but it has not been made clear yet in what capacity the media would or would not.
“We’ve been looking at other cities,” Beltran said.
“We continue to explore other options to enable media access, consistent with what the technology supports and the success that other cities are having.”
I’m surprised the NYPD hasn’t done this a long time ago. Nearly every police department around me has been encrypted for years and they are a fraction of the size of the NYPD.
I have an Uniden SDS 100 handheld scanner and listen to Fire Departments in the area, which are usually not encrypted.
No description of the bad guys. Discrimination and civil rights lawsuits coming.
From Inuit citizens and other Aleut speakers in NY.
Bad Guys = white people and conservatives.
Don’t take it the wrong way but some other people use them for defense against law enforcement.
My late mother used to have a similar one. She was mostly, in some ways, law abiding, sort of.
When Glenn Beck interviewed Bill O’Reilly he said “Bill, do you intend to follow the new law mandating masks?”
O’Reilly: “No. I only wear a mask when robbing a 7-11.”
The bad guys are community organizers and city hall.
Oh.....
Now I get it.
Domestic terrorists and patriots trying for free speech and individual rights. Clear and present danger.
They are the ones who stake their lively hood on making everything political.
That’s not really the reason, is it.
Checked the price on that—$649! wow, is it worth it?
Your real last name wouldn't be Barker, would it?
Yes, and thieves are just doing redistribution of wealth.
> police radios are converted into encrypted channels <
Good idea. However, government secrecy should be minimized. All police transmissions should be available to the public - in the clear - after a reasonable amount of time. 48 hours should be enough. Post them on the police department’s website.
Yeah, breaker one-nine
This here’s the Rubber Duck
You got a copy on me Pig Pen, c’mon?
What if “THEY” are the bad guys?
Every department around us has gone digital and scrambled.
It make my several hundred dollar scanner useless.
Yes.
Autobiography of Joe Namath in 1969 was I Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow ... ‘Cause I Get Better-Looking Every Day.
Current version from urban thieves:
I Can’t Wait For Reparations Tomorrow ‘Cause I Can Grab Them Myself Today.
LOL
No but there is a screen name on FR for that. I’m always polite and respectful for her.
Oh, I know they do, quite a few things you can still listen to with a modern scanner, especially digital and trunked systems, otherwise there really isn’t much of a reason to have a scanner.
The change over will cost tax payers many millions of tax dollars.
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