Times-Call (Longmont): Longmont City Councilman Tim Waters raised questions Tuesday night about the Longmont Police Department decision to shift to an encrypted radio channel in its dispatches, a move that no longer allows the public to listen to those communications via scanners or scanner cellphone apps.

Waters brought the issue up during the council meeting.

He said he would like city staff to explain how it differentiates between “a policy” and “an operational decision” in circumstances such as what officials have said is a “pilot project” stemming from concerns about officers’ safety and victims’ privacy.

Earlier this month, city spokesman Rigo Leal said the decision to go to encrypted police radio communications was made internally and did not require city council’s approval, because it was an operational change.

Visit Times-Call for more.