RW>And what is it that the average cop on the street wants
RW>to hid and therefore needs a scrambled system?  Maybe
JFD> Well... There are many answers to that.  In the early days
JFD> of Police Radio some departments published instructions for
JFD> listing in (if you can beleive that, I've seen the articles,
JFD> thus I have to believe it) 
Back in the old days about all you needed was an AM
radio.  IOW, you could listen to the police using the
good old crystal set.
JFD> However the ones who wish the "Secure" mode on our radios
JFD> are not your Average cop on the street.  They are Narcotic
Not true.  Most police departments are screaming for
money to buy secure radios for their line officers.
JFD> officers and other under cover operatives and if their voice
JFD> was heard with digital clarity on a Trunker Tarcker,,,,
JFD> Their life would likely not be worth the cost of a new
JFD> battery.  Thus, They have "Secure" mode
As I said there should be secure channels when needed
or a manual clear/scramble switch on the mobile and an
automatic switch at dispatch.
JFD> to wish secure transmissions... I've had cases where I had a
JFD> marked car hiding in the bushes.  I called them on a clear
JFD> frequency (Since a person looking for them would only hear
See above and how many criminals have you arrested with
a scanner? 
JFD> But this is only done when the officer's safety is at stake.
Not in a lot of places.  Heck the sheriff in the little
podunk county next to mine talked the powers that be
into forking over money to buy him a nice new secure
radio system a couple of years ago.  Now the entire
county is in an uproar.  The sheriff is threatening to
stop patrolling because he is running out of funds and
the powers that be are saying that he has a budget and
should have planned better.  The last I heard the
sheriff was suing the county and the county was suing
the sheriff.  I can't help to think how much of this
would have happened it they hadn't spent all that money
an a new, state of the art, secure radio system.
JFD> There is yet another reason too... I've had calls from
JFD> assorted media types (You know, Television news) wanting to
JFD> know what frequency we are on (Sorry, can't give that out...
JFD> Reason 1, Don't know,  Reason 2, Not allowed, Reason 3,
JFD> Subject to change with every transmission among the
JFD> different frequencies we use, Reason 4, Digital system.
HA!  A lot of police departments GIVE the media radios
so they can hear what's going on.  In some cases they
have too because of law suits filed by the press using
'sunshine' laws.
Also the media types around you are either really lazy,
really cheap or really stupid.  I can find out what
freqs your PD uses in less then a day and for under
$20.  You can go to any Radio Shack in the US and buy a
book called POLICE CALL that lists all the freqs that
have be licensed by the FCC and to who they have been
licensed broken down by regions. 
But the best way is to go to your nearest radio repair
shop and ask them for the local list.  For five bucks
or so you will get a list of every freq used by the
city, county, state governments in the area.  What
makes these so good is each freq is listed along with
who uses it and what it is called.  IOW, you find out
that police "channel 7" is 460.025 Mhz or the county
jail's "blue" channel is 158.755 MHz.  Better yet you
can find out that the water company uses 155.050 during
business hours but the police use as a 'back door'
after hours.  Therefore you know to lock out 155.050
from 0800 to 1700 but to have it in the scan pattern
from 1700 to 0800.
If all else fails you can find a ham or dedicated freq
chaser and get them.
JFD> But if they could listen in, then they might get a few juicy
JFD> bits of information.   For example,  The other night I got a
JFD> call from a person who was telling me there was a man lying
JFD> in the left lane of the freeway 
JFD> Now, How would you like to notice your spouse was a bit late
JFD> getting home, Then hear on the news that his/her brains were
JFD> splattered all over the freeway.  Remember the "knock on the
JFD> door" has not happened yet. 
How is this any different then seeing him laying there
in full living color from the LIVE AT FIVE news helo?
Also how many major news types would take the time to
cover an accident?  Better yet how many would broadcast
something like that w/o checking it out?
And. . .I have said that I know there are some things
that need to be secure but 99.5% of police TX are not
in that category.
                      Remember:  Freedom isn't Free!
--- timEd-B11
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