Centennial Citizen: Arapahoe County residents can say goodbye to live updates on what local law enforcement is doing now that the sheriff’s office will soon block the public — and media outlets — from listening to its radio communications.

The move comes because suspects “often know we’re coming to calls — the bad guys know where we are, they know where we’re staging. We just don’t want criminals to know (what we’re doing),” said Deborah Sherman, sheriff’s office spokeswoman. “We’ve seen, in the recent past, strip-mall burglars that had scanners in their cars.”

Other agencies across Colorado and the nation also have blocked access to police radios — often referred to as “scanners,” devices that pick up law enforcement conversations in the field — in recent months and years. Media experts have decried the trend as a loss of transparency.

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