Transparency in Law Enforcement Communications Act

Liberty Justice
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Draft Legislation Prohibiting Encryption of Law Enforcement Dispatch Radio Transmissions

An Act to Promote Transparency, Public Safety, and Press Freedom

Section 1: Title

This Act shall be known as the “Transparency in Law Enforcement Communications Act.”

Section 2: Findings and Purpose

(a) Findings

Congress finds that:

  • Law Enforcement has in recent years been turning to encryption of their radio transmissions to prevent the public from monitoring their activities.
  • Transparency and accountability within law enforcement agencies are critical to maintaining public trust.
  • Public access to law enforcement dispatch communications enhances public safety and situational awareness.
  • Access to dispatch communications is vital for journalists and media organizations to report on crime and public safety issues accurately and timely.
  • Traditional media have invested in equipment and used their credentials with law enforcement agencies to access encrypted radio transmissions.
  • Citizens now more than ever are turning to alternative media for diverse perspectives and dissatisfaction with mainstream coverage.
  • Alternative media lack the financial resources and credentials to monitor law enforcement activity comprehensively.
  • Alternative media access to dispatch communications provides varied perspectives in public discourse.

(b) Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to prohibit law enforcement agencies from encrypting dispatch radio transmissions, thereby promoting transparency, public safety, and press freedom.

Section 3: Prohibition on Encryption of Dispatch Radio Transmissions

(a) In General

Law enforcement agencies shall not encrypt dispatch radio transmissions and shall ensure that such communications are accessible to the public using standard radio scanners.

(b) Compliance

Law enforcement agencies shall implement the necessary technical adjustments to comply with the provisions of this Act.

(c) Alternative Compliance

As an alternative to standard radio scanners, law enforcement agencies may comply with this Act by live streaming dispatch radio transmissions on a publicly accessible online platform, provided the stream is unencrypted and readily available to the public.

Section 4: Exceptions

(a) Sensitive Communications

Law enforcement agencies may encrypt communications involving sensitive information, provided that such encryption is limited to specific channels or types of communications.

(b) Delay Mechanisms

Agencies may implement delay mechanisms that broadcast dispatch communications with a slight delay, allowing time to redact sensitive information. This delay shall not exceed more than 5 minutes.

Section 5: Implementation and Enforcement

(a) Implementation

Law enforcement agencies shall take all necessary steps to implement the provisions of this Act within 180 days of its enactment.

(b) Enforcement

Penalties for non-compliance with this Act shall be determined and enforced by the appropriate federal authority.

Section 6: Definitions

For the purposes of this Act:

  • “Law enforcement agency” means any federal, state, or local agency engaged in the enforcement of laws and the maintenance of public order.
  • “Dispatch radio transmissions” refers to the communications transmitted by law enforcement agencies to coordinate their activities and operations.

Section 7: Effective Date

This Act shall take effect 180 days after the date of its enactment.

2 Likes
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Therefore allowing anyone who wants to commit a crime to listen, right?

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That is a common concern, but it doesn’t happen that often. Most people that commit crimes are not going to shell out the money for a device (and many states already have laws on the books regarding possession of a police scanner in furtherance of a crime). There are also some people that will respond to the scene based on hearing the call over the police scanner that could possibly interfere with an active investigation (prime example is a certain major city where tow trucks would hear a call for an accident and race to the scene to get the tow), and there are also laws on the books that deal with that as well.

Also, in the draft above, it is clear, only “dispatch” traffic has to be unencrypted. Tactical traffic they can encrypt all day long. Likewise, there’s already directives from the DOJ that says that “personally identifiable information” (ie license checks, and other communications where information that could be used for identity theft) should be encrypted.

So we’re down to mundane stuff, but relevant to the news media that would be unencrypted (many agencies have unfortunately mis-interpreted the aforementioned DOJ directives to encrypt all traffic - this law corrects that). This mundane stuff is directing units to crashes, or to investigate complaints, possibly police chases, etc.

I also include an alternative means of compliance by streaming the audio. But, there are certain agencies that think that they can set up an obscure web page on the agency’s website where you can listen to that traffic on a 30 minute delay. In this world of near-real-time news on social media, 30 minutes is an eternity, which is why the law also limits delays to no more than 5 minutes, and that it should be provided directly to the audio streaming platforms that already stream thousands of these audio feeds worldwide, allowing it to be indexed next to other agencies.

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What is your proof? Is it possible sometimes when police arrive at the scene and find nothing, the suspect heard them coming and left?

Cell phone with free police radio communication web sites installed.
“Broadcastify - Listen Live to Police, Fire, EMS, Aviation, and Rail Audio Feeds”
“Scanner Radio - Listen to Live Police and Fire Radio Streams on iOS and Android”

And gun laws prevent criminals from using gun to commit crimes, right? Maybe we need more laws.

Or hurry up and finish the job and leave.

Except for really rural areas, a lot of dispatch data is disseminated today over LTE and 5G VPN enabled data terminals in the cars. This also allows for additional information like suspect photo and record, hardware enables fast, reliable communication of images, video, GPS, situational awareness data, and audio/voice communications.

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It’s difficult to find proof when so few stories come up about it. But on the flip side, encrypted communications can prevent good samaritans from assisting law enforcement:

And I can find many other similar stories.

I myself have provided assistance based on hearing things on the scanner twice - Once, there was an accident just outside my apartment complex, and I was able to assist the responding officer with traffic control. The second time was when the fire department responded to a burned pan on a stove in my apartment building, I again assisted the officer with traffic control.

I’m very aware of the streaming platforms you mention - in fact I pay for a subscription to Broadcastify, and know the founder. If I remember correctly the Scanner Radio app is actually using Broadcastify for it’s source.

Broadcastify has a delay built in (not intentional, but caused by the technology that processes the audio), so the listener is already typically close to a minute behind the actual transmission.

Again, if a bad actor is committing a crime, they’re going to focus on committing the crime, and are unlikely to be monitoring a live stream or a police scanner.

Surprisingly, Mobile Data Terminals or MDT’s are not used for general dispatch by any department - the reason being is most officers are solo in the car and are typically driving, and to look away from the road to read a computer screen is something anybody else would get cited for (“inattentive driving”).

Yes they can run license checks via MDT, automatic vehicle mounted license plate reading cameras can feed plates into the MDT and alert an officer to a “hit”, and other data can be pulled up when not moving, but the radio remains the primary means of dispatch.

Because the radio systems are tuned for the area the officer is working in, it is also more reliable than MDT’s and AT&T’s 5G FirstNet LTE Network that most of the MDT’s use. I have heard countless times of officers saying their MDT is down, rendering it ineffective. Likewise if the officer is outside the patrol car, they have a radio on their shoulder, but aren’t near the MDT in the car.

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Thank you for helping out, but in today’s society where anyone can shoot you when you are not looking, keep people away for your safety. After 20+ years as a volunteer firefighter and EMT, and over 4 years as a reserve Deputy Sheriff, I can tell you one of the biggest complaints a lot of emergence response personal, including tow truck responders, have are lookie-lue want-a-bee’s and “professional” YouTube journalists tracking police looking to catch them doing something wrong or getting the “big” scoop for their webpage.

And yes, some police are dispatched using the MDT’s, maybe not in your area, but it does happen. And if not, a hands free cell phone call does the same thing for single drivers. There is no need to put anything out over publicly available airways. It’s not safe.

If you want to be involved, check your area and you might find ways to be vetted and then volunteer.

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Since you’re so willingly wanting to argue against my proposal, then how about suggesting a workable alternative - here’s the scenario:

I live just North of a County Line that divides Big City from Small City (I’m on the Small City side of the Line). I get all of the Big City TV stations on my streaming service, and Small City only has 2 TV stations (but living in an HOA can’t put up a TV antenna).

Big City has a daily newspaper, but generally doesn’t cover my county. Small City has a newspaper that only comes out a couple of times per week - both hide their online content behind paywalls. Neither have a “police blotter” section that reports on minor incidents.

Many people here in the county get updates via Twitter/X and Facebook from volunteers that monitor scanners. These updates can be on fires, high speed chases or accidents.

Big City and all of the Suburbs have multiple radio systems, and most of those agencies (but not all) have their dispatchers “in the clear”, but we’ve started to see some agencies switch on encryption. The Little Town (3k people) that I live in has been encrypted for several years. Small City is building a new radio system, and there’s a strong chance it will be encrypted when they start using it.

Both Big City and Small City legacy media have the budgets and credentials to buy an official radio and have the agencies program it for them to listen to encrypted communications (this is common all over the country). But, they aren’t covering the news that interests us, and certainly not in a timely manner. The “new media” volunteers that do cover the news that interests us and in a timely manner don’t have the finances nor will most agencies recognize them as media to be able to buy an official radio.

Therein is the problem that my proposal is trying to solve. With departments “defunding the police”, constantly understaffed, countless scandals and suffering from low morale, we the people have a right to know when our community is not safe, and when we must act to protect our life and property.

There’s been no mention anywhere in this discussion if I have or have not already done that as it’s not relevant to the current discussion.

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Click your heels together and repeat after me. "There is no place like home, there is no place like home, and there is no place like home.”

You can come up with any hypothetical situation you want, that does not do away with the fact that a certain segment of the population will use your proposal to further their criminal behavior and put the people whose job it is to protect you from them in danger.

You want to help Emergence Service personnel? Easy. An open channel allows everyone to monitor, live streams put the control in the emergency personnel’s hands.

  1. First, ask them if they even want you to know what they are doing. Maybe they are doing a secure investigation; it’s not secret if you know about it. “Unit 7, undercover Officer at 101 Main needs help, Shots fired.” If they do want you to know,

  2. Support and teach them to live stream on social media.

Some departments do that today. You can watch up to 24/7 if they stream that much, listen to it in the background, or some give alerts to what is going on to notify you to watch. This also allows them to mute the sound when they are discussing sensitive information. That gives them control. They give you updates when they decide to on what is going on when they decide it will not compromise their investigations and safety.

Won’t work, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher and his Deputies do it several times a week on YouTube and Facebook and have been doing it for over 4 years I think?

The amazing thing, crime is down; Loon at the crime statics for St. Paul, and across the river in Minneapolis. The people who you don’t want to know where the police are at are not very smart and listen to the stream. He shows he is on the west side of Saint Paul, the criminals go to the east side, and that is where to other non-live police are. He started with just his car, and has now expanded it to 4 or 5 cars one at a time. No one knows where all of them are located at any one time. No one gets universal access to they locations. He is not 24/7 because there are time statically when there is little crime, he hits the busy times.

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Asking that question is pretty much a guarantee that the agency will start talking encryption if they haven’t encrypted already.

In the 35+ years I’ve been monitoring law enforcement as a hobby, I’ve never heard any transmission like that regarding an undercover. (on the other hand, uniformed officers have made “shots fired” calls over the dispatch channel, and usually the dispatcher will allow all responding units to coordinate right there - closing the channel to other traffic).

What I have heard is “Officer X go to Ops 4” - I know in my instance that Ops 4 is an encrypted tactical channel. And for me, I have no problem with that. Just like when the officer switches over to another channel to have the dispatcher run a license and/or registration (if they’re not in the car to do it on the MDT) - the officer will give the name, date of birth and license number, then the dispatcher will read back if the license is valid and if there is any restrictions or warrants. I don’t care about that either.

Guess what, Ramsey County Sheriff also is unencrypted on their 3 radio dispatch channels (East, Central, West), and all three can be heard on Broadcastify. They also have a number of “tactical” channels that report to be unencrypted, but are not rebroadcast to Broadcastify (“Tactical” channels are not on Broadcastify per their terms of service). They also have a similar number of Encrypted “tactical” channels, so the policy may dictate what they are using the encrypted for.

Obviously to start streaming requires money, and most agencies are cash strapped as it is, and with that I doubt most of them would want to divert their budget to set up and operate a streaming channel.

At this point, we disagree on what should be the fix for a misinterpreted DOJ directive (which is driving the current push to encryption),

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Obviously we are never going to agree. Have a great day.

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I agree with you full headedly. I do security for a living and these people drive everyone crazy and make the job 10 times harder. However for what the individual is proposing i think it would be fair if the dispatch traffic was recorded and released the following day unedited. I believe all traffic should be recorded and released with no issues. Only editing name, DOB, SSN and other sensitive information. This gives transparency AFTER the fact thus preventing any issues in the on going situation. All the traffic should be publicly available. Which would clear up issues such as in Texas the school shooting. Many questions are who responded and how? where was the confusion? had the traffic been recorded and released following day this would be clear as to who is to blame and what happened.

Edit, Not to mention i had a fire in my house and do you know how many “Contractors”, “Insurance claims reps” and anyone looking to make a buck showed up? this im sure made the fire departments job way harder and added way more stress to me and my family.

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as a dispatcher myself for the safety of my officers, EMS and my fire personnel, I refuse to be unencrypted

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No. Here’s a few reasons why. 1. If there are minors involved in whatever situation they are called to, THAT info must remain hidden/coded (just like in court cases, no names released in regards to minors). 2. Public safety as well as responders. The last thing responders need is innocent civilians poking their nose in (and possibly getting injured or killed). Let them do their job. 3. Question: how well has the media done in regards to reporting crimes with JUST the FACTS?? 4. “traditional media”?? Does that even exist anymore? Neither the White House nor the Pentagon are having “traditional media” in those spots. 5. If there is an injury or a death involved, protocol has always been that there be no leaks until the family has been contacted and made aware. Would this proposal help or hurt them?

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The dispatch channel typically doesn’t have any names or other personally identifying information (PII), it typically is “officer respond to [address] location for [nature of call]”. Or in reverse it may by “officer to dispatch, I’ll be conducting a traffic stop on a [description of car] license [ABC123] at [location]”

If the officer is wanting to check if the license is valid or if the person has warrants, then they switch to a second channel, which I have no issue with encrypting, since there is the PII being disclosed over the air.

I spent 7 years in and around newspapers in the late 1980’s early 1990’s (it’s there that I got the scanning “bug” that I still enjoy today). The news media of that time, be it newspaper, radio or television doesn’t exist any more. Our daily paper had a “daily report” section, that listed hospital admissions and discharges, births, police arrests, fire calls, accidents and other items of note. At most it was a single paragraph for accidents and arrests, usually naming the parties involved and what city they were from - back then PII wasn’t as big of a concern.

Today, the news media of old has turned to sensationalism, if it doesn’t attract eyeballs, it doesn’t run, and facts don’t matter if it fits an agenda. Mundane things like the aforementioned “daily report” or “police blotter” just doesn’t exist.

Enter new media. I have several Facebook and X/Twitter pages that post accident reports, fire reports and the like. The problem is, most of these pages get the information they post not from underfunded/understaffed agencies that could care less, they’re getting it from the aforementioned police scanners.

Here’s an example from a couple of days ago, I have redacted a couple of things, but otherwise this is verbatim what was posted:

:rotating_light: MAJOR ACCIDENT :rotating_light:

Major accident on 121 at 1629 in [Unincorporated area] south of [Town]. Air ambulance requested. Unknown injuries. We have seen pics of the accident, please have these people in your prayers. Updates as we get them.

UPDATE, second helicopter on scene.

UPDATE, sadly, there were two fataliin this accident

This was posted (without the updates) minutes after it happened because of hearing the call on the radio, and then with the follow ups heard over the air (again there would be no PII going over the air, and this Facebook poster has a strict policy of not sharing any names, or other PII.

Yes, they did say there was fatalities, but again, no PII. Even the recent incident at Washington Reagan International Airport, the traditional news media was giving body counts without PII, so I doubt the above accident report violates any journalistic standards.

That’s what this proposal comes down to - give the “new media” the means of reporting hyper local news (and I say hyper-local since many of these are down to a specific county or community) in Internet time (meaning near-real-time), without making them jump through political hoops (say, for example getting a White House press pass, and then buying a $5,000 police radio and having the agency program it for them) - many of the new media may do this as a second job, and don’t have the financial resources to pursue something like that.

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Rodger that and thank you so much for going into detail. Appreciate it!

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I used to think this, and want this. I love listening to the scanner, and can see huge benefits. However, I was talking to a friend who is a police officer and he made a statement that resonated. He and I go way back. We were both Explorers, and both went into the military on the “buddy system”. He would love to have his friends and family have the option to listen, however his fear is officer safety. If someone wants to target a police officer, radio broadcasts make it extremely easy to target an officer. I won’t go into detail.

However, if a US CITIZEN would like past audio for a specific time, not to exceed more 24 hours ler request, it should be given without delay or fees.