It appears as thought the police are becoming more militarized every day. First every department started establishing Special Weapons and Tactic (SWAT) teams, then they started arming themselves with armored personel carriers, and now they’re starting to classify everything:
Police departments around the country are moving to shield their radio communications from the public as cheap, user-friendly technology has made it easy for anyone to use handheld devices to keep tabs on officers responding to crimes.
The practice of encryption has become increasingly common from Florida to New York and west to California, with law enforcement officials saying they want to keep criminals from using officers’ internal chatter to evade them.
I find it funny that the police agencies moving to encrypt their communications, according to the article, are located in such havens of freedom such as New York and California. What is funny is their excuse, they’re claim of wanting to prevent criminals from listening into radio transmissions is dubious. Usually the police respond to crimes that have already happened meaning it’s unlikely a criminal is going to gain much advantage by having a police scanner on hand. While many criminals are idiots some are smart enough to realize the police will be soon to arrive after a call is made to 911.
Perhaps the police are getting sick of the public listening into their misdeeds. Then again I think the most likely reason they’re moving to encrypt their radio communications is because they’re getting a case of over classification from the military.