#San diego traffic radio full#

He also said blanket encryption is unjustified. He added that at a time of scrutiny of policing issues, such as police violence, eliminating an avenue for access to information is a “real step backwards.” “Scanners are an important tool in that arsenal of learning (about public safety issues).” law enforcement to tell the public what’s happening,” Mackey said. “I think it’s always problematic when the public and the news media are reliant on. And news releases are not always timely.Īaron Mackey, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the switch to encryption means reporters - and the public - will be forced to rely on the discretion of law enforcement in releasing information about day-to-day public safety matters. Nixel alerts often notify the public only of “police activity” on a street block and ask the public to avoid the area. They pointed to various avenues their departments use to disseminate information: spokespersons, news releases, social media and Nixel, a platform that enables alerts via email and text messages.īut sometimes Nixel alerts and social media posts from police agencies offer vague and limited information.

Several police officials said news media will continue to have access to information about emergencies. If the dispatcher staffing the inquiry channel needs to handle 911 calls, the encrypted channel goes offline, police Lt. However, Escondido’s inquiry channel, which is encrypted, is staffed only during daytime peak staffing in the dispatch center, which takes calls for the city’s police and fire departments. Others include the county Sheriff’s Department and the Escondido Police Department. The San Diego Police Department is not the only agency that staffs inquiry channels. La Mesa Police Department Services Manager Christine McMillen said one dispatcher usually helps officers in the field with tasks such as looking up information in databases. Officials with smaller departments in particular said setting up a separate, encrypted channel was not an option because their staff doesn’t include enough dispatchers to manage an inquiry channel like the San Diego Police Department. Some officials whose agencies encrypted or will encrypt their communications said there was no other feasible way to comply with the Department of Justice order. “We do have some responsibility to ensure that we’re taking some steps to prevent that.” “I do think it is wise to have a system like this in place to prevent the malicious use of personal information,” Woodward said. He said unencrypted scanner traffic provides an opportunity for fraudsters to jot down people’s person information, such as names and social security numbers. Woodward said he understands the concerns that encryption limits transparency but also highlighted what he saw as another potential issue with unencrypted communications: identity theft. He said the “solution” was developed “as a means to provide some information to the public while still protecting (personally indefinable information) and other information that could compromise officer safety or investigations.” When incidents come to an end, dispatchers will unencrypt channels and broadcast how the call was resolved, Sgt. Dispatchers will unencrypt channels to send officers to calls, then switch back to encryption.

The San Francisco Police Department seems to have struck a balance - to a degree. That’s usually when personal information is broadcast over radio traffic. Other times they ask dispatchers to pull the information from the databases. Police officers sometimes tap into the databases on their department-issued cellphones or computers in their patrol vehicles. The system is a network of databases that contains information about criminal and driving records. The Police Department issued an order in December reminding its officers to switch over to its inquiry channels when they broadcast information drawn from CLETS.

Officers and dispatchers use the inquiry channels, which are encrypted, to run background checks.

#San diego traffic radio full#

The only agency in San Diego County that said it would not switch to full encryption was the San Diego Police Department, which uses dispatch channels and what are known as inquiry channels.