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A year ago this month, Denver Police decided to encrypt radio traffic so members of the public (including journalists) could no longer listen. That’s old news, but I think it’s important to revisit in light of the current push for more transparency. So what happened?
Well, it probably isn’t what you’re thinking: police scheming to prevent journalists from doing their necessary job as watchdogs. Police agreed to allow newsrooms to buy an encrypted scanner but (and this is a big but) we had to agree to a license.
So the license gave police editorial control over how we use the scanner? Well, no. Initially there was objectionable language along those lines but we actually worked through that with Chief Pazen. We expected it to be the most difficult hurdle. It wasn’t.
Quick recap: journalists and Chief Pazen negotiate in good faith over many months and agree to terms that would allow us to continue our vital work informing the community. Ultimately, police agree to no control over editorial. Yay! A victory for Democracy! Not so fast.
The deal killers, it turns out, were the auditor and city attorney. The license had 2 issues: one required newsrooms to cover the city’s legal costs in the event of a lawsuit, the other allowed the city to examine our notes and records related to the use of scanners. Uh, no.
The city said those provisions are standard in any city contract. We said those provisions would clearly chill our newsgathering process. So where does that leave us, and why should you even care? (Hang in there, this thread is almost done)
It leaves us all in the dark, now reliant on police PIOs. As we’ve seen in recent cases, that information is rarely timely and never complete. The public, then, is not fully informed on police activity in their community. At best, that info is hours late; at worst, months late.
So now what? There’s a lot of lofty talk by city leaders about providing more transparency in policing. They’re talking the talk. Great. Now, let’s walk the walk and reach an agreement that serves the community. A public safety agency should not operate outside of public view.
