Critics say switch to encrypted digital channels may have garbled CPD radio calls
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Did a recent switch from old-school analog to encrypted digital police radio channels make them harder to understand?
The problem was highlighted during a shooting that wounded a Chicago Police officer in Gold Coast Monday morning – in the latest development in the controversy over the city's move to encryption for police scanners.
"Send an ambulance, I'm hit!" an officer said in a garbled radio call after being shot Monday morning. The officer was shot at State and Walton streets around 4:15 a.m. Monday, while responding to an attempted crash-and-grab burglary at the Prada store about a block away at 30 E. Oak St. in the Gold Coast.
That radio call was followed by about seven minutes of hard-to-decipher confusion over when whether an officer had actually been shot. Dispatchers said, "All officers are OK, no officers shot at?" and, "No officers hurt, correct?" before it was established that an officer actually had been shot.
"Like, I guess, the quality of a bad cell phone call," said Chicago scanner enthusiast CrimeIsDown.com founder Eric Tendian.
Tendian said he has noticed an audio quality problem ever since the city began migrating public safety radios from clear analog dispatch channels to secure, encrypted digital channels in 2022.
Tendian believes the garbling is a side effect of the digital channel trying to remove background noise.
"Anytime you have to repeat yourself in context of public safety, that's seconds lost," said Tendian.
Fortunately, the officer who was shot in this case was back home recovering Tuesday. But there are concerns the next communication issue could end tragically.
"I have FOIA'd audio recordings of two particular incidents in which police officers were calling for help and nobody heard them," said veteran journalist Todd Maisel, founder of the New York Media Consortium.
Maisel leads a group of media organizations against the New York City Police Department's radio encryption plan. CBS 2 is part of a group of media organizations in Chicago that has also raised issues with the city blocking media access to the live radio calls.
"This is not transparency. This is not what the police and government promised," said Maisel. "This is not good for the public."
Maisel said they have also had troubling distortion problems in New York.
"I have also heard that the that the radios have bad volume," he said. "People don't hear them very well."
Maisel's concerns echoed Tendian's about safety.
"If things get lost in translation, then that that makes things less safe for all of us," Tendian said.
We reached out to the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications about these concerns, and we asked if the city is aware of these audio quality issues and if there are any plans to address it.
OEMC released this statement in response:
"The City of Chicago encrypted public safety radios for safety issues from rogue radios interfering with radio traffic. Radios serve as lifelines for our first responders and the encrypted radios eliminate "rogue" radios with disruptive, often derogatory transmissions that disrupt the day-to-day traffic for emergency personnel. Having encrypted radios provides added protection for communities and the personal information of victims, suspects, witnesses, and juveniles. It also enhances officer safety and prevents suspects from gaining a tactical advantage by listening to live incidents and investigations. While the switch to digital transmission provides a different sound than previous channels, encryption itself does not directly impact the audio quality of radio transmissions."
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