I must say I totally agree with Chief Mark Puglieses decision to ask the county commissioners to allow the county police forces to be able to encrypt their radio transmissions (Police to encrypt dispatches from incident scenes, June 28). When I was on the job, we had what was called a scramble capability, which allowed us to communicate with each other without the general public being able to hear our transmissions. Oftentimes, this didnt work, and we couldnt even talk with each other. <\/p>\n
However, back then you didnt really have a lot of people the media included with access to our transmissions. With todays technology, criminals are able to keep abreast with the locations and transmissions of the police. Some might argue that can be avoided by police using cellphones and computers to communicate, but the majority of the time, that is just not feasible. <\/p>\n
Imagine a police officer responding to an emergency call and using the cellphone or looking at the computer to receive updated information. Then that officer being involved in an accident because they were on the cellphone or looking at their computer. This has the potential for a lawsuit that could end up costing the taxpayers millions of dollars. <\/p>\n
Also, transmitting a persons name, date of birth and Social Security number over the radio has the potential for identity theft. Im sure members of the media wouldnt want their personal information broadcast for everyone to hear. Encrypting radio transmissions would increase the safety of the police, victims and potential witnesses. To me, this greatly outweighs the need for the media to know what the police are doing at every moment. <\/p>\n
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