The Double Edged Sword of Radio Encryption
The Chicago Police Department wants the public to believe outright falsehoods about how allowing the public to monitor their radio communications in real-time poses a public safety threat. This is an old, recycled far-right claim that has continued to be hollow at the center for want of evidence to prove it true.
Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune headline alerted the public to CPD’s active switch to full-time encryption.
With recent and past civil liberties concerns committed on part of Chicago Police, an active consent decree that the department has been doing a horrid job of complying with that arose from the murder of LaQuan McDonald, an active lawsuit against the department in Cook County Circuit Court demanding that the city disclose the basics of the CLEAR System, and the failure of both CPD AND OEMC (Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications) to secure their ages old radio system to prevent rogue radio transmissions, the department has been moving forward with encryption since May of 2022.
This raises concerns about CPD cutting off the citizens of the State of Illinois from obtaining information that the state’s Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140) says citizens have the right to obtain. 5 ILCS 140 has provisions in place that requires all public bodies to redact/protect personal information and…
