Phoenix police decide to shield its radio traffic
Web Producer: Taylor Higgins
PHOENIX (AP) - The Phoenix Police Department has decided to encrypt emergency police-radio traffic related to crimes in progress.
They say it's a move that will reduce by about 18 percent the agency's scanner traffic audible to the public.
Officials say the decision to encrypt more dispatch calls and conversations between officers comes after recent incidents.
About an hour after a Jan. 30 office shooting in central Phoenix, police broadcast over their radios the address of a possible suspect's home.
The information was picked up by media outlets and others monitoring scanners, and some posted the address on social-media sites.
The Arizona Republic reports media crews and others arrived at the home before police tactical teams could even get there.
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