posted on May, 20 2012 @ 01:05 PM
Many of the *important* radio transmissions will be encrypted using Apco 25. Apco 25 has 2 forms of transmission types, "digital none encrypted" and
"digital encrypted". If you hear nothing but long bursts of noise, it usually means that Apco 25 Encrypt mode is being used.
IMO I think the usage of Apco 25 is disgusting as it allows no oversight of what the Police are doing from a communications standpoint. It seeks to
promote even further the "code of silence" among many LEO's as they feel more comfortable knowing that only the police can hear each other. Here in
Canada not even NEWS organizations have been given any headroom regarding radio encryption and have been forced to rely on what the police decide to
release to the public in terms of breaking NEWS.
I understand the police viewpoint that criminals could be listening in on transmissions and coordinating criminal activity around sensitive
information. However, this problem could be easily solved through the licensing of Motorola Radio units where encryption keys have to be updated every
couple weeks or so. Without the specific key for a specific radio unit it basically renders the decryption of Apco 25 void. This type of licensing
would especially come in handy when certain units are stolen and fall into the wrong hands as they can basically be disabled by revoking the radios
specific key.