Colorado Public Radio: If you tune a radio to the Denver Police Department’s transmissions, you’ll only hear silence.

Denver law enforcement encrypted their signal at the end of July after nearly a year of deliberation. It’s not the first department in Colorado to silence scanners, but it is one of the largest.

News organizations and scanner enthusiasts immediately protested the move, raising questions about the department’s accountability and transparency. Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, was one opposing voice.

“When police departments encrypt all of their radio transmissions, it hinders the public’s right to know what their police department is doing, what’s happening in their communities,” Roberts said. “It also is an accountability issue. It makes it it difficult for the news media and the public to hold their public servants accountable.”

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