Cops and fire dept. scanner changes

Cathleen_Allison · #1 08-23-2004, 10:14 PM

I work for a daily paper in Carson City, NV and our "small-town" cops are switching to a new dispatch system that limits scanner traffic to the bare minimum. Most of their calls will be dispatched through the laptops in their cars and not over the airways. We have a strong relationship w/ our local sheriff, but we are at a stand-still as to how the local media will be kept aware of important calls for service.

I'm sure many of you out there have experienced this transition & I'm hoping someone may have some advice for us as to how we can monitor the calls w/out too much expense or having to rely on whether or not dispatch has time to page us.

Anyone who's gone through this??? Thanks for your help.

Jonathan_Wienke · #2 08-24-2004, 12:05 AM

I think this is a problem that is only going to get worse for reporters. The old-style paradigm of police & fire departments communicating via a publically-monitorable broadcast medium is fast going by the wayside. Communication security is is becoming a lot easier to implement, both technologically and financially, and post-9/11, is viewed as a much greater priority than it was 30 years ago. A team of terrorists with scanners monitoring police communications are in a much better position to ambush officers and rescue/emergency personnel attempting to respond to a terrorist act than those without that capability. And ordinary criminals have been catching on to this as well; this has cost officers their lives already. So unless you can cultivate contacts among police dispatchers, I would suspect you're SOL.

WilliamMiskiewicz · #3 08-24-2004, 02:21 AM

Unfortunately I agree with jonathan, as far as the Police go. Are you listening to the Fire Depts, as well? The way things work here (Dallas/Fort Worth) the fire deptment responds to 90% of the major incidents that the police are working with. Example: on SWAT callouts a Fire Dept. engine company will stage in the event they are needed. I can speak from experience that it will change the way you cover spot news. Now we listen to the FD to give us a jump start on PD calls. Alot of times if they (the PD) don't use the terminals, they are using cell phones or "talk-around" channels. I am sorry but that is the best advice I can provide.

Edmond_Terakopian · #4 08-24-2004, 10:37 AM

Unfortuntely in the UK we've never had the luxury of being able to listen in, legally.
Scanners are illegal, and turning up to an event too soon always gets us in the questioning spotlight!
Its unfortunate that the system's changing over there, but I guess the security reasoning is fair enough.
I guess the way we do things over here will begin to apply - you just have to make good contacts and cultivate them over time. Sending emailed images or prints, often helps people remember to give you a quick call if they're attending a big shout.

Good Luck,

Edmond

edmessenger · #5 08-24-2004, 12:18 PM

Since you are the local paper and have a good relationship with the cops they may be able to set you up with a reciever on their new system. Around here it is pretty common for dispatch to be through a trunked digital radio system, not very scanner freindly. It's also common that the newspapers and tv stations will each have 1 or 2 radios that are part of the police system. Sometimes we have to pay for it sometimes the cops loan it out. Either way their radio guy needs to program it for their system.
The cop beat reporter or city editor has the radio, and passes info on to the rest of the newsroom as needed.
This is radios not laptops, they can probably set up a transmitter to a computer in your office, and slave it so it recieves dispatches.

Cathleen_Allison · #6 08-24-2004, 02:36 PM

One of my concerns is that our news coverage could be much more inconsistent, based on who is working & who the contacts are calling. Our crime reporter has great contacts and networks and while I know several dispatchers - my concern is more about the timeliness of the info. I know we'll hear about major "hot" calls as they tend to get dispatched and not sent by computers. But the other types of calls, we most likely won't hear in time for me to get photos. Time for the reporters to do their thing, but probably not in time for spot news photos.
We do listen to fire dispatchs also and I agree that many calls overlap & we'll get some info that way.
The irony is that I spent nearly 8 years as a law enforcement dispatcher - so I have much insight on both sides of this issue.
I guess I'm looking for people who've worked through a change like this & may know how other law enforcement agencies & media agencies are dealing w/ /this.
Thanks - Cat

TomPszenny · #7 09-19-2004, 12:35 PM

A lot of departments are going digital and Nextel, along with info via the terminals. More and more are going that route every day, and one of the reasons is because of the public (and reporters) being able to hear every single detail of the calls. It also makes dispatching a bit easier to do via Nextel or laptop. No cross traffic, and the ability to actually discreetly show up onscene are sometimes very important. Departments have also found even as fast as you get the latest and greatest technology, someone will find a way to monitor it. Departments who bought trunked systems 5 or 10 years ago to gain security are finding that all the scanners now can follow trunking systems, and even the digital ones are not secure anymore. When cellphones first came out, everyone thought that was a secure medium, and it wasn't at all. Anyone with a decent scanner and the ability to clip a diode or two could hear all sorts of great conversations (Not that I ever did that!) I am betting there is a way to monitor Nextel, its just not "out there" yet.

Unfortunately there is not a whole lot you can do. Its a cat and mouse game for reporters- as far as I know departments are not obligated to notify the press of anything so you are kind of left to your own resources to get news. You can hope some of your contacts are willing to give you a shout when something really good is going down, or you can follow the fire dispatches and see what those lead to. If the dispatch center is actually willing to page you regarding incidents, you should be thankful, I don't know of any that do it in my area (and I am a full time city fire dispatcher and former police dispatcher, and have also been published covering various PJ type things). Just do the dispatcher(s) on duty a favor and don't go calling dispatch during the incident- there is far too much stuff going on, and 99% of the time they know as much (or less) than you do!!!