HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Some police and fire departments are bucking a trend to conceal dispatch communications from the public, acknowledging that radio encryption has the potential to backfire and ...

When the 2020 Walbridge wildfire threatened John Clarke Mills’ off-grid home in Sonoma County, Calif., he was frustrated by a lack of accessible information. While government agencies seemed to have ...

Under Mayor Adams, who once declared that there was nothing more important to him than transparency, the NYPD is continuing on its quest to encrypt all radio communications, shutting out the public’s ...

The debate over police radio encryption shows how technology is relevant to First Amendment questions even at the local level. Local governments are starting to encrypt routine police radio ...

The Oakland Police Department's plans to begin encrypting its radio transmissions is drawing public scrutiny due to concerns over transparency in the department. Police radios allow for communication ...

State Senate Bill 1000, which would require law enforcement agencies to find alternatives to encrypted radios, was advanced by the Senate Public Safety Committee on April 19, 2022. Embarcadero Media ...

In 2023, the NYPD began encrypting their radio channels, essentially blocking them from the public and media access. Many ...

Update: On June 21, 2021, Colorado’s state legislature passed a bill requiring police agencies that fully encrypt radio communications to enact media access policies in consultation with the media.

The silence is deafening. And it’s going to get louder. The NYPD began encrypting its radio transmissions on Staten Island in February. That means that members of the media and the public no longer ...