LAPD radio broadcasts are now inaudible to most of the public. No legal hardware available to the public can receive them. This removes what had always been a de facto American freedom to listen to police radios, even though this was and is technically illegal.

This has been in the works for many years. The FCC, the major radio manufacturers, and the national police communications organization (APCO) have been pushing a new digital radio standard for local police departments. Minus the rhetoric about the "digital future," this has two purposes: to sell equipment and to deny the American public what had always been its unofficial right to listen.

1. Selling equipment

Public safety radio systems have been among every city's major expenses for many years now. At one time, police radios were simple, rugged, and lasted forever. Starting about 15 years ago, they became complex, easily breakable in field use, and obsolete as soon as they were completely debugged and tuned up for years by expensive consulting engineers.

In other words, they became just like all the other planned-obsolescent junk being pushed on everyone by the corporations.

I can think of no American city that is not currently having expensive trouble with its public safety radios. This doesn't sound bad until you need the fire department or paramedics and they can't hear each other. Then you die.

LAPD has received corporate perks and enticements to try a full-scale digital radio system, which has been in the works for years. It was supposed to be up and going for the anticipated "Lakers Riot," the one supposedly prevented by the FOUR police choppers and hundreds of cops around the bourgeoisie's shining Staples Center, where people had paid to watch the game on TV. Well, the comm dapartment missed by about a week. Can't have everything in the radio biz.

The whole country is watching LAPD's field trial, which is really what this is. If it can work in L.A., it can work anywhere, and every city in the US will have to spend millions on new police radios. Yum yum, go the corporations.



2. Denying public access

Radio manufacturers have made blatant appeals to fear and paranoia in the ads they place in police and public safety radio publications. One famous one showed the stereotypical "crook," with grubby clothes, unshaven stubble, flashlight in one hand and scanner in the other. (At least the professional model that did this one was white...) In this manner, cities have been convinced that Radio Shack is out to get them. (Radio Shack is out to make money like everyone else.)

Newer police radio systems include very tacky anti-scanner countermeasures that never worked very well. The classic case was the attempt by GE transmitters to play an out-of-tune version of "We bring good things to life" with its reset tones after trunking radios had switched channels. This was designed to hold scanners on the old frequency until they'd missed the new one. It was stupid, it never really worked, and most agencies turned it off. However, this is an example both of the grungy corporate appeals to local paranoia and the intentionally lousy engineering that characterize nearly all current public safety radio technology.

While the new digital radios do not inherently lock the public out, there is currently no corporate effort to lower the cost of the circuits which can receive the new mode. Why does this not surprise anyone? Furthermore, throw one more switch and the buzzing noise becomes encrypted, protected by both legal precedents and high-priced cryptography.

There are other problems. Range is limited, decoding lag delays the hearing of important messages, agencies can not hear each other a lot of the time, and news media cannot do their job. This too sounds fine unless you're a grunt reporter trying to bust the cops on their brutal tactics at some confrontation, and you walk into the wrong place because you can no longer hear what most officers in the field had always considered a fair warning. Again, you die.

Presumably, organized crime does not care about the cost or legality of the needed equipment. They will get it, and learn to use it - somehow. We're the losers. The bad guys are the winners. When scanners are outlawed, only outlaws will have scanners.

-- .- .-. -.-. --- -. ..