"Law enforcement agencies across Contra Costa County began shielding their radio chatter from the public this week, ending decades of transparency and closing shut a key window into crime across the region. Police and sheriff's deputies started encrypting - or making secret - conversations between themselves and dispatchers before dawn Tuesday. Publicly-available feeds for the Concord and Pittsburg police departments, as well as for parts of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office, went silent between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. that day,"
"In an unexpected turn, numerous agencies across Alameda County did not follow suit as planned Thursday - raising questions about the viability of an effort that cost millions of dollars and raised alarms among police accountability and First Amendment advocates. Amid an apparent technical glitch, public radio feeds remained online Thursday morning for the Oakland, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Newark and San Leandro police departments, along with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office."
Law enforcement agencies across Contra Costa County began encrypting radio communications, ending decades of public access to officers' by-the-second chatter. Public feeds for the Concord and Pittsburg police departments and parts of the county sheriff's office went silent between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., indicating use of private channels accessible only to law enforcement. Several Alameda County departments did not cut over as planned because of an apparent technical glitch, leaving their feeds online and delaying implementation in Oakland by two to three weeks. The regional communications authority said leaders are working through channel patching issues after years-long efforts to remove public access, which has raised deep concerns among police accountability groups, First Amendment advocates, local attorneys and a state senator.
Read at The Mercury News
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