Members of the state Legislature voted Thursday to approve the “Keep Police Radio Public Act,” which will give credentialed members of the media access to encrypted police radio.
This comes after the NYPD completed encryption of its precincts, special operations, and several other frequencies this past year. While several citywide frequencies and transit radio remain open, encrypted radio has left many members of the media to guess whether particular calls were real or nonexistent. Sometimes, events are not known until the NYPD reports them to the press.
But the fight is not over
We are calling upon our press brethren to urge through editorials and opinion pieces to help convince the governor to sign our six-year fight for the legislation. We’ve already had editorial help from the New York Daily News, WINS Radio, and City and State. We will call upon our fellow journalists to back the bill with their words as this is our best chance of having access to encrypted radio. We will reach out to individual publications and stations soon.
We also are in need of anecdotes about jobs you may have missed as a result of encryption. Please send those to Todd Maisel at toddphoto@aol.com
Should the bill be signed by the governor, there are many questions about implementation to be worked out. We will keep all advised on those developments as some departments might take legal remedies to prevent transparency.
Please monitor our Facebook social page for updates and discussions on encryption and other matters of concern.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NYPPAINC
For more information about encryption both for the city and nationally, see:
https://www.toddmaiselvisualjournalism.com/police-radio-encryption-resources