Police update radios to stop eavesdroppers

[OSiRiS 0]

Police update radios to stop eavesdroppers

7:06AM Thursday May 21, 2009

Police are rejigging their radio communications to prevent them being snooped on by criminals, boy racers, and anyone else with a $175 scanner.

An encrypted digital radio system will be launched in Wellington next month, then extended to Christchurch and Auckland by November 2010.

Other districts will be added over the next four years.

Eventually, the digital technology will enable 1.7 million messages to be sent on a network of over 300 radio sites to 2500 vehicles and 3000 handheld radios.

Police said it would make effective encryption easier so that people would no longer be able to track their activities with scanners.

While listening to a scanner was not illegal, acting on information obtained from one was.

Police have been keenly awaiting the technology to beat the scanners, Police Association president Greg O'Connor said.

"Everyone, including the local burglar, is sitting at home with these things."

In small towns, where there were only one or two police vehicles on patrol, scanners could tell criminals where police were working, he said.

And in Christchurch, area commander Malcolm Johnston complained in February that 300 thuggish boy racers screaming out "kill the pig, box him in", apparently used scanners to target Sergeant Nigel Armstrong in suburban Wigram.

"They knew that there was only one car coming at that stage," he said. "The whole thing was an orchestrated ambush."

In July 2007 police awarded Tait Communications a $6 million tender for Apco P25 digital equipment for specialist groups such as the armed offenders squad, special tactics group and investigators.

The American Apco standard was used after "performance issues" meant an order for digital trunked radio running on the European Tetra standard for the 1999 Apec conference in Auckland was axed.

The new standard allowed other agencies such as fire, ambulance, fisheries and customs services to eventually migrate to the new service, while still using their old analog radios.

[bravo 35]

Sweet. Although it may be fun to listen in on emergency services (I never have, but have radio geek friends who do), the benefit of not having criminals and the like using the information for nefarious purposes has to outweigh the inconvenience of radio hams losing some of their regular entertainment.

I'd be interested if anyone has any legitimate reasons why they shouldn't do this.

[pjay 8]

Guts Nino

There will be ways around it.

[Andrew 30]

Guts Nino

There will be ways around it.

I highly doubt those ways will be within reach of your common criminal or 'boyracer' though.

[pjay 8]

Which is a positive!

[diablo23 1]

oh well if they upgrade to digital and keep it unencrypted then all good, but there only using des encryption so one day some one would figure out out to decode it, ive heard theres already digital decrypting scanners on the black market so might be a few years till it happens but it'll happen

[OSiRiS 0]

oh well if they upgrade to digital and keep it unencrypted then all good, but there only using des encryption so one day some one would figure out out to decode it, ive heard theres already digital decrypting scanners on the black market so might be a few years till it happens but it'll happen

It's already been decrypted...

[pjay 8]

Its not what you know, Its who you know.

God I love the internet

[bmw_guy 0]

How can you listen into their conversations?

What kind of radio

[pjay 8]

96.1 Bro.

Gotta adjust the Dizzy though

[bmw_guy 0]

96.1 Bro.

Gotta adjust the Dizzy though

On my car stereo???

[danthaman01 0]

On my car stereo???

yeah just play with the dizzy until you get some noise worked for me

[diablo23 1]

It's already been decrypted...

got any proof tho

[bmw_guy 0]

haha doubt it! so wont work

[Greg111 13]

haha doubt it! so wont work

Oh dear god!

[bmw_guy 0]

dont you need a uhf radio

[danthaman01 0]

dont you need a uhf radio

nah man the dizzy should pick it up

[pjay 8]

Just fiddle with it and you'll find the sweet spot bra

[OSiRiS 0]

Just fiddle with it and you'll find the sweet spot bra

Wait, what?

[melowpuf 19]

yeah just play with the dizzy until you get some noise worked for me

Yup, tune your head unit into 96.1 and start the engine (do it in this order .. very important) you can get away with not fiddling with the dizzy. depending on if you have a 4 or 6 cylinder... once the engine is running.. If you have a 4 Cylinder engine pull the lead off cylinder 3, if you have a 6 cylinder then pull the lead from cylinder 5. It is important that you DO NOT use any tools that are insulated when you do this or you will blow your head lights. It is best to use your bare hands. Once you have disconnected this lead wait 3 seconds and plug it back in. ENJOY listening to all those criminals being apprehended.

NOTE: do not put your hands near anything that could burn or catch in anything that could break your arm off and ultimately kill you or your friend or your neighbour or your cat or the neighbours dog or the mail man/lady. If you have a pacemaker or any heart conditions do not attempt this get someone much younger without heart conditions to perform it for you.

[bmw_guy 0]

haha real funny

[melowpuf 19]

haha real funny

I can't do it in mine because I have a diesel. the frequencies from the ignition give the head unit a boost to pick it up. only needs the short boost for the head unit to pick up the higher frequency and register with it. i've never managed it in my Bambina.. its only a 2 cylinder

[chase 0]

[melowpuf 19]

All seriousness, I know someone who has a full time job monitoring the emergency channels nationwide. There are multiple repeaters up and down the country which he monitors for most of the main centers. It wont take long for the new system to be decrypted. There are some quite chilling recordings from past events.

[blakamin 0]

I'd be interested if anyone has any legitimate reasons why they shouldn't do this.

As a truck driver I spend 10 hours a day on the road... Waiting for out-of-date traffic info from a radio station is stupid. (I spent 45 minutes trying to get out of Wainuiomata yesterday because I forgot to turn my scanner on)

There is also the fact that people like me (on the road 10+ hours) get to see a fair amount of vehicles doing stupid things, and when you hear that that vehicle is stolen over the scanner, at least you can point the cops in right direction and, hopefully, some f*ckin ar$hole thieves will get locked up.

There have been a couple of times in my life when I've seen some sh*t happen and have heard about on the scanner and then rung the police about because they've been looking in the wrong place...

Never bothered to use it for criminal sh*t because 1) I'm not that way inclined and 2) you can't outrun a radio

Never, ever, ever used it to avoid a checkpoint or random stop. or anything else.

Maybe they should just make scanner usage licenced like hf radio.

Edited May 21, 2009 by blakamin