Comments on: Escambia Upgrades Sheriff, EMS, Fire, County Radio Systems

By: Char

Char — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:22:51 +0000

If they can’t break the encryption they will clone the radio’s, David is right.
I still believe this will all be MOOT. Where there is a will there is a way.

I hope I’m wrong, because they let a lot of Police, Teachers, and others
that we needed their services go because of budget, and $12 Million I feel could have been better spent.

I have a scanner and enjoy just listening to it., now I will not be able
to do that.

If it IS a problem that criminals can track the police then I certainly
am sorry how I feel about it, because nobody wants criminals
caught more than I do, and I certainly want our LEO’S Safe.

By: David Huie Green

David Huie Green — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:40:03 +0000

REGARDING:
“Talk to your council members and the encryption could be over turned.”

Sheriff doesn’t take orders from county commissioners.

By: Fred Jackson

Fred Jackson — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:04:20 +0000

I think the local media should Not be locked out. There should be some type of screnning process to let the True media listen in. The Sheriff Dept should not have full time encryption on ALL of the channels. The odd thing about this is the Sheriff Dept did leave one channel open. It is the one that warrents and tags are given over the radio. Also all the local County Fire Departments must now pay for a private analog repeater. The county is not going to pay for the analog local fire repeaters. The County Fire would like everyone to use the 3 new digital Fire Tac Frequencies. Before the move Century Fire For example had 3 repeaters they could use besides the Main County Frequency ( Tac 1 = 820 and Tac 2 = 0975 and CD = 145 now they have only one Digital Fire Frequency Tac 1 North = 625 besides the Main frequency . Is this safer by puting all the North End Fire units in one Tac Frequency ?? I don’t think so. Time will tell. It will be intresting if Esc Co, FL gets a new Sheriff in the next election and he or she decides to not have encrypted radios. Talk to your council members and the encryption could be over turned.

By: David Huie Green

David Huie Green — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:31:36 +0000

Char,
you were right the first time, moot ( Definition 2 not relevant: irrelevant or unimportant Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)

Encryption’s better than that, though. Until they come up with quantum computing it should take a while to break. I’d still think it would be simpler to steal a working receiver which already had decription built in.

me not know

By: William

William — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:43:01 +0000

>>If someone can invent encryption then someone can invent an encryption breaker. It is just a matter of time, and was probably started on the minute this
grant came out.

Probably not, unless they are *really* lucky.

If the system used the more common 56-bit encryption, all you would have to do is guess the correct key from 36,028,797,018,963,968 different possibilities. And you would have to do it within a 24 hour period, because the key should change every 24 hours.

If you are that lucky, you’d be better off buying lottery tickets.

By: Char

Char — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:41:44 +0000

“moot” oops probably should have been “MOTE”
You know, I just don’t know. lol

By: Char

Char — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:39:03 +0000

David you hit the nail on the head on all accounts but you missed one.

If someone can invent encryption then someone can invent an encryption breaker. It is just a matter of time, and was probably started on the minute this
grant came out.

12.5 million and it will still be MOOT point !

By: James Broel

James Broel — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:34:49 +0000

Am I the only one who thinks this can be a good idea to actually help in law enforcement?

By: David Huie Green

David Huie Green — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:17:48 +0000

REGARDING:
“Local media isn’t allowed to listen in. What are they trying to hide?”"

They are convinced they would leak information to the suspects just as they are afraid the criminals would monitor their operations if they could. (Don’t worry, some officer will lose or sell a radio and they’ll be listening in. It only takes one bad seed.) All people and entities want to control the information leaving them. it’s part of the nature of humanity.

An interesting example lay in the lead up to the Waco Incident when the news media called the Branch Davidian compound for comment on the task force which was on its way. Kind of let the cat out of the bag. People died.

Not to be outdone, though, the negotiator called the people in the compound just before gassing them to let them know they were about to gas them. This gave them time to put on gas masks. People died.

Caint trust nobody these days.

By: sniper

sniper — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:07:24 +0000

this has been and continues to be a NIGHTMARE in the fire departments. they dont have the bugs worked out and firefighters are sometimes WITHOUT communication while on emergency calls. we had no communication just last night!