Matt Sebastian

police radio scanner

Journalism, Public Records Laws August 24, 2022

A year after the legislature passed a law on police radio encryption, Denver-area news outlets are still blocked from listening

But a year after House Bill 21-1250 was signed into law, reporters still can’t tune into Denver and Aurora police radio transmissions like they did before both agencies blocked public access — Denver in 2019 and Aurora three years earlier. Although each department has a written policy on radio access, neither has reached an agreement with any Denver metro news organizations.

Colorado Legislature, First Amendment, Journalism, Open Meetings Laws, Public Records Laws December 26, 2019

CFOIC’s year-in-review 2019: encrypted police radios, open internal affairs records, deleted emails

A split screen might be the best way to think about government transparency in Colorado in 2019. On one side is the ground-breaking new state law that opens records on completed police internal affairs investigations. On the other is the trend among law enforcement agencies in our state to encrypt 100 percent of their scanner transmissions.