The Transparency Around Here Is Killing Us

Before it happened we asked a law enforcement pro what effect encrypting police communications was going to have and without missing a beat he answered: “Erode the public trust.”

We’ll admit, we were surprised to hear him say it out loud. At the time there was a raging internal News24/680 debate over why police/cities would do such a thing and the usual answers were cropping up: so they could control the narrative, limit the possibility of witnesses, curtail potentially negative press. We got it, and we figured they’d pull the switch to lock out public access to critical information before they even raised the heavyweight, hot button rationale of “officer safety.”

Oh man, we said at the time, this isn’t going to be good. And we were right, though we are loathe to say so because most folks think us scribblers incapable of being right about anything. So, what did we get? Well, for us, encryption exploded the number of “do you know what’s happening at XYZ?” inquiries from the public, along with semi-huffy “How come no one told us about this?” calls. Please remember, this wasn’t our idea and we pounded our chubby little fists on the table at the time the idea first surfaced.

Reports about hot prowl burglaries in Orinda – which ended with a homicide in Martinez when the burglar murdered a homeowner who may have caught him in the act – went unreported while such reports were common fare before the radios went dark. Reports of more burglaries, pursuits, ongoing searches for suspects – all grist for our mill and information critical in our view to public safety – have disappeared, our inquiries left unanswered as the curtain of silence descends even further with time.

Readers ask: “How could we let this happen?” and we are left to shrug without explanation of the public’s general acceptance of things packaged as pro-police and anti-crime (keep an eye on that Flock camera issue, kids). We can only explain ourselves so much. Sometimes you just have to let the public angst and ire grow on its own. We only hope that others aren’t hurt or killed during the wait.

Our law enforcement pal’s prophecy appears well on it’s way to realization as we steel ourselves to continued arguments of “police will tell us what they want us to know when they want us to know” from steadfast Back the Bluer’s for whom law enforcement can do no wrong. It’s okay. We’re not here to argue you out of your beliefs, but we would ask you to be aware of the issue and to keep an open mind to any new developments as they come along.