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NYPD faces backlash as it prepares to encrypt radio communications | New York | The Guardian
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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What is the purpose of encrypting comms?
In prior articles on this, religious nutjobs would listen to police radio and visit the active crime scene and start praying in the middle of the chaos. People and police started getting really sick of their shit during an emergency. Other flavors of morons would also show up to watch shit go down. Sometimes, private information would also get said on the radio such as names or addresses, which could lead to harassment or true crime nuts showing up to private homes.
I kinda get why making channels private for everyone but reporters (for transparency) is happening.
I kinda get it, but at the same time I think it should be our right to monitor police. I'm not sure how to reconcile the personal info part though.
Agreed. But I think the right to monitor the police doesn't have to mean real-time access to police radio. The radio could be recorded, like body cam footage, and released on demand with FOIA. FOIA allows redactions when needed, so sensitive information like victims names and addresses could be redacted.
How is he bootlicking?
We live in a society. Compromises need to be made. If they end up being in the wrong direction, then we correct.
The answer to solving this problem isn't to burn the system to the ground, and it's also probably not to keep letting the crazies get involved in crime scenes. It's also not to give police carte blanche or obscure the information of it's needed.
His suggestion was a reasonable first step.
Now. Can the NYPD be trusted to do the right thing when they get a FOIA request? Probably not without being forced. They don't have a great track record of transparency. But that's no reason to remain stuck in the past.
Tell me, has the currently unencrypted radios kept the cops from doing shady and unethical shit so far? No? Well then it seems like they already have ways to break the rules outside of what the citizen is currently capable of monitoring, yes?
Such an edgy "rebel"