Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Many Utah law enforcement agencies are encrypting their radio channels.
- This move limits public and press access to real-time communications.
SALT LAKE CITY — A five-year project to upgrade Utah's public safety radio system is nearing the finish line.
According to the Utah Communications Authority, public safety agencies in Juab, Utah and Salt Lake counties are the last to cut over to the new system — called P-25 — and are on track to do so before the end of the year. The old system had been in place since the 2002 Olympics.
"Just like crime and crashes and incidents don't happen within county or city boundaries, this really allows for our agencies to communicate with every other agency throughout the state and to gray out some of those borders," said Tina Mathieu, executive director of the Utah Communications Authority.
Scratchy, sometimes patchy scanner feeds and coded communication among first responders often give journalists a heads up on public safety incidents, which agency to call to confirm information, and where to send news crews to keep the public informed.
But those scanners will soon quiet, as many agencies are now choosing to encrypt their feeds — meaning no access for the public, or the press.
"We provided them a system that's capable of encrypting their talk groups and they've chosen whether they wanted to or not," said Mathieu. "Far less are not encrypting than are encrypting."
The KSL Investigators have been digging into which agencies are choosing encryption.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office encrypted its feeds in October.
The Weber County Sheriff's Office did the same in November.
University of Utah Police plan to encrypt their radio channels next year.
The Davis County Sheriff's Office told KSL they won't be encrypting their feeds.
The Unified Police Department did not tell KSL whether they'll be using encryption.
And one of the state's largest agencies, the Salt Lake City Police Department, plans to make its public feeds go silent next month.
"The decision to encrypt wasn't taken lightly," said Salt Lake City Police communications director Brent Weisberg.
He said the department is trying to balance competing interests: transparency, public safety and privacy. "Our No. 1 priority is to make sure that we're protecting that very sensitive personal information that goes out over our airways in real time," he said.
Weisberg said the department is providing dispatch information online through a media-only page and that radio traffic is recorded and can be accessed via public record requests. He said the department is still working with the Utah Media Coalition to explore radio access options for journalists.
"Our commitment is to make sure that we're releasing information as quickly as possible," Weisberg said.
The KSL Investigators are still working to learn about how other Utah agencies are handling the option to encrypt their radio channels.
