The NYPD’s plan to encrypt police radios, which prevents the media and those without the proper codes from tuning in, has begun with six precincts covering Brooklyn disappearing from traditional broadcast bands this week — but that’s just the first step, NYPD Chief of Information Technology Ruben Beltran told The New York Daily News.
In the coming months, police radio encryptions are
expected to spread and will be “deployed similarly,” Beltran said.
The only people being able to listen in would be the
NYPD “partners” such as FDNY, EMS, other law enforcement agencies and first
responders like volunteer ambulance services, Beltran said following a
promotion ceremony at the NYPD Police Academy in Queens.
“We do plan
to expand this as we do this upgrade to our technology,” Beltran said. “This is
40-year-old technology we are upgrading.”
Beltran wouldn’t give a timeline on the upgrades,
except to say that it’s a “multi-year process.”
He said the department is evaluating methods that
would allow media outlets to listen in, but gave no promises at Friday’s press
conference.
“We’re trying to see what will be the best balance
between keeping the police safe, the community safe and media access,” Beltran
said.
Methods used by other cities that have encrypted
their police radios include broadcasting the messages to the public on a
30-minute delay so police could get to the scene before reporters and cameramen
do.
The NYPD has been working on ways to encrypt their radios before the
pandemic, claiming it would prevent criminals from listening in and act on
information about police movements they glean from the broadcasts.
“We have a history of our radios being used againt
us,” Beltran said. “Our radios are one of the most important pieces of
technology we have. It’s more important than our firearms, but they’re also
hijacked by adversaries and bad actors.”
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