Emegency Responses Last Night

[RetiredCPO]

Good Morning All,
Anyone know what happened last night around 7ish? Heard multiple emergency responses in the Buck Hewitt - 235 area last night. Counted at least 4 waves of emergency vehicles responding... hope everyone involved are safe and sound.

Thanks

 

[glhs837]

Pity you cant have a scanner to find out, eh?

 

[mAlice]

Pity you cant have a scanner to find out, eh?

Why do people do this? Maybe, just maybe, he had something better to do/watch/listen to, than the scanner. You must be plugged into the scanner 24/7, to make such a comment.

 

[glhs837]

Why do people do this? Maybe, just maybe, he had something better to do/watch/listen to, than the scanner. You must be plugged into the scanner 24/7, to make such a comment.

Not the point. If you wanted to listen to a scanner, the Sheriifs choice to use encrypted comms means you couldnt hear anything anyway. We use to have some scanner folks who could let you know what was going on. I wasn't one of them, but I appreciated what they did. Sheriff claimed at the time that we citizens didnt need access to scanner feeds, he would let us know when things of interest were happening. Of course, we really get nothing until after the fact, even when they are looking for armed robbers or home invaders, we only find out after the fact.

 

[mAlice]

Your exact comment,

Pity you cant have a scanner to find out, eh

Oh, wait...were you being sarcastic? You can download a pdf for scanner code. I'm not really sure what your point is.

 

[glhs837]

Your exact comment,

Oh, wait...were you being sarcastic? You can download a pdf for scanner code. I'm not really sure what your point is.

No code gets you past the ecryption. Kinda the point of encryption. The Sheriff claimed that bad guys were listening to the scanners and using that to avoid the police. No examples of that, of course. I think it was more crtiticism about the handling of issues that he was really trying to avoid. My point was that when things were happening that folks might be interested in, like say armed bad guys on the loose in a nieghborhood, you could maybe know about that. Or maybe a string of armed robberies in Lexington Park like a couple weeks back. My point is now that you cant. You only find out on the blotter after the fact.

 

[mAlice]

No code gets you past the ecryption. Kinda the point of encryption. The Sheriff claimed that bad guys were listening to the scanners and using that to avoid the police. No examples of that, of course. I think it was more crtiticism about the handling of issues that he was really trying to avoid. My point was that when things were happening that folks might be interested in, like say armed bad guys on the loose in a nieghborhood, you could maybe know about that. Or maybe a string of armed robberies in Lexington Park like a couple weeks back. My point is now that you cant. You only find out on the blotter after the fact.

I didn't know you couldn't listen to the scanners anymore. My apologies. I thought you were being a smart ass. So, you can't defend yourself in MD, and now you aren't even able to see it coming (assuming you're paying attention). Sad.

 

[glhs837]

I didn't know you couldn't listen to the scanners anymore. My apologies. I thought you were being a smart ass. So, you can't defend yourself in MD, and now you aren't even able to see it coming (assuming you're paying attention). Sad.

Exactly. Sad indeed.

 

[RetiredCPO]

Now that we've cleared that up... back to the topic. Have not found any news concerning the response last night, I would have thought it would be covered somewhere by now considering the amount of alarms I heard last night.

Thanks

 

[GURPS]

The Sheriff claimed that bad guys were listening to the scanners and using that to avoid the police. No examples of that, of course.

police want WAZE Banned for similar reasons .... bad guys can find the police

 

[BernieP]

Your exact comment,

Oh, wait...were you being sarcastic? You can download a pdf for scanner code. I'm not really sure what your point is.

It was a snarky commentary on the policy to shift to encrypted radios. You can certainly purchase a receiver, an antenna and any gear you want. But you won't hear anything because you can't purchase the comsec gear.
Which raises a point, I wonder what type of encryption they are using on their network?

 

[Starman]

It was a snarky commentary on the policy to shift to encrypted radios. You can certainly purchase a receiver, an antenna and any gear you want. But you won't hear anything because you can't purchase the comsec gear.
Which raises a point, I wonder what type of encryption they are using on their network?

Encrypted police/public safety systems I'm familiar with use AES-256, which makes sense since that's the government standard. The industry-standard marketing term is generally P25, but AES-256 is the underlying mechanism.

 

[kom526]

Santa run by BDVFD maybe? 7th District uses 4 vehicles to bring the big guy around every Christmas season.

 

[BernieP]

Encrypted police/public safety systems I'm familiar with use AES-256, which makes sense since that's the government standard. The industry-standard marketing term is generally P25, but AES-256 is the underlying mechanism.

LOL
I'm more familiar with a higher grade of "government" encryption.

 

[inkah]

Not the point. If you wanted to listen to a scanner, the Sheriifs choice to use encrypted comms means you couldnt hear anything anyway. We use to have some scanner folks who could let you know what was going on. I wasn't one of them, but I appreciated what they did. Sheriff claimed at the time that we citizens didnt need access to scanner feeds, he would let us know when things of interest were happening. Of course, we really get nothing until after the fact, even when they are looking for armed robbers or home invaders, we only find out after the fact.

I was listening one night where two things happened - a domestic abuse victim's location to a supposedly safe place was broadcast over the public airwaves and a search was being conducted for a fleeing criminal where deputy search locations were being broadcast over the public airwaves.

Same night - two different instances. And that was only for the brief time I happened to be listening. Scary stuff. Those conversations ABSOLUTELY should have been off air. And some deputies should have had the smack down for broadcasting.

But I agree with you - other than those types of things, I miss knowing what is going on and think the local police could use a little more public accountability.

 

[officeguy]

I was listening one night where two things happened - a domestic abuse victim's location to a supposedly safe place was broadcast over the public airwaves and a search was being conducted for a fleeing criminal where deputy search locations were being broadcast over the public airwaves.
.

The sheriff always had use of an encrypted TAC talk-group Both of these operations should have been moved to encrypted or a cell call. No different from how ambulances do their consults with medical control. This was failure of the individual officers, not a failure of the open system.

 

[officeguy]

Encrypted police/public safety systems I'm familiar with use AES-256, which makes sense since that's the government standard. The industry-standard marketing term is generally P25, but AES-256 is the underlying mechanism.

Encryption is a part of P25 but there is much more to it. The key feature is that the standard is vendor independent. A properly programmed Motorola radio can work on a Harris system etc.

 

[glhs837]

I was listening one night where two things happened - a domestic abuse victim's location to a supposedly safe place was broadcast over the public airwaves and a search was being conducted for a fleeing criminal where deputy search locations were being broadcast over the public airwaves.

Same night - two different instances. And that was only for the brief time I happened to be listening. Scary stuff. Those conversations ABSOLUTELY should have been off air. And some deputies should have had the smack down for broadcasting.

But I agree with you - other than those types of things, I miss knowing what is going on and think the local police could use a little more public accountability.

Yes, better to have been done with policy and procedure than encryption. I really believe that that aspect of it was a cover and the real reason was that a lot of criticism of the department was based on what citizens learned from listening. I could be wrong, no way to know for sure.

 

[3CATSAILOR]

No code gets you past the ecryption. Kinda the point of encryption. The Sheriff claimed that bad guys were listening to the scanners and using that to avoid the police. No examples of that, of course. I think it was more crtiticism about the handling of issues that he was really trying to avoid. My point was that when things were happening that folks might be interested in, like say armed bad guys on the loose in a nieghborhood, you could maybe know about that. Or maybe a string of armed robberies in Lexington Park like a couple weeks back. My point is now that you cant. You only find out on the blotter after the fact.

I agree with the Sheriff. I 100% support the safety and welfare of our police. They have a tough enough job. You don't need the idiots to know when our hard working officers are coming or from what direction. If anyone has any evidence of police wrong doing, report it to them. Talk and hearsay merely spreads ugly rumors unnecessarily. Both agencies have an Internal Affairs division. They call it something else. But, its the same thing. If you believe your or some's Civil Rights is violated by police, you can report it to the FBI to be investigated. Both agencies have supervisors you can contact if you have some concerns. However, you should include evidence rather than hearsay as forums like this usually only have.

 

[glhs837]

Sorry, I disagree with your point that it's a safety issue. And I never accused anyone of wrongdoing, so stand down a bit, CAT. I said criticism, I did NOT say it was justified, read a bit more clearly. I can think of two instances of standoffs where there was a lot of criticism based on things people heard over the scanners. I'm not saying I agree with those, I dont know enough to judge. I am saying in my opinion, I think choice to encrypt was based more on that than on possible interception by bad guys. Opinion, I can have one Like the silly red light cameras, our Sheriff can be wrong. Remember, he tried to wrap that bad choice in the cloak of officer safety too.