Cops Hide Behind Encrypted Radio
by Michael Dean Thompson
The Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) protests ignited changes among law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Text messages from police in 2020 showed they were only enforcing curfews against protestors. Z. Williams, the director of client support and operations at the Denver-based nonprofit Bread and Roses Legal Center, told Truthout, “Police communications demonstrated that the intent during the BLM uprising in 2020 was to be as violent as possible.”
This troubling fact was known only because citizens and journalists were able to monitor police scanners and communications. They were able to overhear the racist remarks made over the radio frequencies. Consequently, change was the inevitable result. Cops across the country have begun encrypting their radio communications so that no one can listen as they continue as they were—undeterred.
The ability of the people to listen to police communications is essential to police transparency. In addition, it keeps the citizenry informed about criminal conduct such as active shooters or hazardous conditions like hazmat spills. It gives more than just the tenor of cop talk; it also tells of the state of the community so that citizens can be aware of impending problems. Dan Shelley, the president and CEO of the Radio Television Digital News Association, wrote, “The move to encrypt scanner communications puts the public—and the newsrooms that serve them by seeking and reporting the truth—at risk.”
According to the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, more than 30 law enforcement agencies in the state have encrypted their radio communications by May of 2021. It is possible for journalists to request the transmissions after the fact via the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act, but it gives the cops the opportunity to redact records or even to withhold them altogether. That dovetails nicely with what we have seen with the bodycams that were designed for transparency and oversight but are often edited, taken out of context, or even ignored if not turned off.
Colorado took a step forward by passing HB 21-1250. The law requires that law enforcement agencies using encrypted radio work with Colorado-based media outlets to create access policies that allow the media to listen to decrypted conversations. Only it does not appear that any of the jurisdictions in Colorado that use encryption actually worked with the media to generate mutually satisfactory solutions. Public records requests were sent to 59 police departments in Colorado by Truthout. Of those, only eight provided responsive replies. And still, only five of those presented their media access agreements. It turns out that HB 21-1250 has no enforcement mechanisms, so it is a law without bite.
The five media access agreements shared include indemnification clauses that would force the media organization to pay for “any claims, damages, liabilities, losses and expenses, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from or as a result of the signed agreement.” In effect, the cops are trying to offload responsibility for policing failures.
Justin Sasso of the Colorado Broadcasters Association told Truthout, “If you reported on an active shooter and told people to stay away from the area, but somebody disregarded that and went into the area … and they were injured or killed … [they] could sue the broadcaster for telling the person where not to be.” Denver takes it a bit further by selling “decryption licenses” for $4,000 that come with additional insurance requirements. Oddly, while attempting to minimize access into their own records, Denver cops also demand that the media give the city access “to any pertinent books, documents, papers and records of the licensee.” It is a stunning requirement since the police presumably know what was or was not said on their radios. It instead seems intended to give them access to journalistic sources and investigative techniques, creating an unnecessary burden the media would be unlikely to agree to bear.
Source: Truthout
As a digital subscriber to Criminal Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
