Era of the Police Scanner Coming to an End
Prince George, B.C.- It won’t be long before the era of listening to a police scanner will come to a close for folks in Prince George.
The local RCMP detachment will be making the switch away from the regular channels, and moving to a digital system “It’s part of the regular technology upgrades” says Corporal Craig Douglass. The upgrades are being covered by provincial funding and several detachments in B.C. have already made the switch.
The change will mean the average person will no longer be able to eavesdrop on conversations between dispatch and officers, the general public will no longer know .
The change to a new digital system will be a boost to offers who often need to have conversations the public need not hear. “Every bad guy has a scanner” says Corporal Douglass, “They know what we’re up to, and they often know when we’re coming so this switch will be an advantage for our operations.”Corporal Douglass says while he knows some people will be disappointed that they can’t listen in, the switch over will be a positive one “Police officer and public safety come before curiosity”.
The curiosity factor can reveal a lot of private information about you. Let’s say you were pulled over because a tail light is out. The officer may be heard calling in the licence plate of your vehicle, or details of your driver’s license. A person listening could learn personal details about you from your birthday to driving record and anything else that may be on “file”.
The digital system was used Tuesday at the Canada Winter Games by a handful of Officers assigned to cover the Plaza opening event . The digital system will be used by all officers working the Canada Winter Games and the full switch to the new system will take place once the Games are complete in March.
Those who like to listen to the “reality” radio will still be able to listen to dispatch of fire and ambulance as those two services will remain on regular radio channels.
Comments
Well that sucks. I enjoy listening to the scanner. One step closer to a police state? Keep the public in the dark.
No its not even close to becoming a police state where I work all our radios were switched to digital this year and while it has its issues digital is a much more stable platform and more and more companies both private and public are switching to digital. This is just the next evolution in radio traffic a lot of trucking companies are switching over to it as well as heavy industry.
A radio with a trunking system may do the job. Google it. There are apps that get you into systems all over the world.
And no one makes or programs digital scanners?
This cobversion is long overdue. Digital has many bennifits. Just think how long ago the cell providers went digital.
Ya I dont thinks seamut its P25 digital. Not analog trunking or some other low level system.
I want the Rcmp to communicate as clear as possible. The best desisions are made with all the information heard and understood.
The problem wasn’t the public listening to scanners… it was the criminals.
Police State? North Korea is laughing at that suggestion.
OK for one a digital scanner would be needed and two you’d also need the frequency in order to hear it. That is not easy to come by I can tell you that. Fort St. John has been digital for almost two years and I still cannot find the code. Plus no one will dish out $600 bucks for a digital scanner and no trunking doesn’t work. The system is not fool proof but have fun attempting to find frequencies.
For all the years that people could listen in with their scanners I have never heard of a problem. Also the example given of your information being obtained and getting your personal information. Have never heard of this being a problem either.
A number of years ago there were a couple shady characters in the back alley near my inlaws. I called the cops. Within 2 minutes some crackhead women came running up the street yelling “the cops are coming get out of here”. They ran away and were never caught.
There you are Palopu, you’re first problem.
It is a Digital system that is digitally encrypted, so even if you have a digital scanner, you won’t hear anything ’cause you can not break the encryption that is used.
It is refered to as the P25 standard that “monkeyboots” mentioned.
So the crooks will have the money to buy what they need to scan the system. They will get a hold of the frequencies and hack the encryption. So the average joe might not be able to listen but I’m sure the crooks with theoney wont have a problem at all.
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