Truthout: In Aurora, Colorado, in 2016 and then in Denver in 2019, police radio transmissions went silent. Many journalists, accustomed to using newsroom scanners for monitoring police radio communications to identify newsworthy events, found themselves suddenly disconnected from crucial updates on events jeopardizing public safety, impeding their ability to report promptly.

“Like law enforcement, broadcasters play a vital role in protecting the public, by distributing vital information to a mass audience, quickly. Broadcasters have responsibly utilized law enforcement radio communications for years,” Justin Sasso, CEO of the Colorado Broadcasters Association told Truthout. “There are no examples of broadcaster access resulting in harm to an officer or victim. However, since broadcast journalists and newsrooms have been cut off from law enforcement radios there are multiple incidents of communities not learning about active shooters, wildfires and matters of public safety in a timely manner.”

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