Police Are Increasingly Encrypting Their Radios to Block Scrutiny by Journalists
truthout.org
Press advocates say that the surge in encryption is a reaction to the demand for police accountability after 2020.

Press advocates say that the surge in encryption is a reaction to the demand for police accountability after 2020.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/uOMPf

  • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    151·
    4 months ago

    Back in the 90’s when I was involved with the USCG in the Boston area they had an encrypted radio system that could be used when talking about sensitive subjects that you didn’t want every boat in a 10 mile radius to listen in on. The problem with that system was the range was very limited & the audio quality wasn’t the greatest.

    Over time as cellphone coverage along the coast improved we switched to just using them to call into the comm center at the station when we wanted privacy. I’m a bit surprised the cops don’t just do that as well, although I guess if they need to communicate with a bunch of cops all at once then phones wouldn’t work very well.

    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      4 months ago

      This was something Nextel’s PTT was great for. Could setup various PTT groups and communicate broadly with everyone in the group regardless of location in the country even. And since it used very small slivers of 800MHz spectrum, the signal travelled damned far. Could even work directly between devices without the network of necessary.

      One of the major reasons many emergency response teams had Nextel devices in their initial response kite.

      • Landless2029@lemmy.world
        3·
        4 months ago

        Man I remember me and my friends using PTT like crazy. It was fun and kept us close knit. I could really see it being useful in a business setting.