When Napa County’s police radio traffic went dark Sept. 1, residents lost a decades-old window into law-enforcement activity — a quiet but consequential change that arrived weeks before Berkeley leaders sparked debate by voting to do the same.

The shift, part of a wave of radio encryption spreading across California, has reignited debate over police transparency at a time when public trust in law enforcement remains under strain.

Law enforcement officials confirmed that radio transmissions from the Napa County Sheriff’s Office and police departments in Napa, Calistoga and St. Helena are no longer accessible to the public. The move preceded similar actions in Alameda and Contra Costa counties in October, including the Berkeley City Council’s Oct. 28 vote to allow its police department to encrypt communications.

A move years in the making

In Napa County, officials say encryption was years in the making, spurred by two main factors: a 2020 California Department of Justice memo instructing agencies to avoid broadcasting sensitive personal information, and the county’s rugged topography, which limits cell phone and computer connectivity that might otherwise serve as alternate ways to share private data.

Agencies were given options — either encrypt their channels or establish policies that meet the state DOJ’s privacy requirement while maintaining public access. Sheriff Oscar Ortiz said the latter approach could pose safety risks for deputies.

“Now I got a very dangerous situation where I’m expecting solo deputies and the dispatchers they’re dealing with to be able to navigate, to juggle, two or three channels,” Ortiz said. “And if anything goes sideways, is everybody on the same channel or is there communication being missed when somebody switched their channel back?”

Ortiz emphasized that all law enforcement agencies in Napa County can still communicate with one another to ensure mutual aid, “an important part of this project,” he said.

Encryption does not affect the public’s ability to monitor fire and medical radio channels, according to Napa city staff. The city manages the county’s 911 dispatch center, which handles emergency calls for the city, unincorporated Napa County, American Canyon and Yountville — about 115,000 calls per year, according to its website.

In July 2021, Napa County received a $1.8 million federal grant to upgrade its radio and communication equipment to comply with the DOJ requirement. The system transitioned from analog to digital in November 2024 before full encryption took effect this fall.

“To meet the encryption requirements, many California agencies (local and state) have needed extensive resources and time until their law radio channels could be encrypted with the expectation from CalDOJ that every opportunity to safely use alternate methods (cell phone/mobile data computer) were used,” city officials said in a statement to The Press Democrat.

The public’s lost window

Among those affected is Corey Edwards, a Napa resident who runs a private Facebook group that relays emergency radio traffic to more than 34,000 followers — one of many similar networks across the country that sprang up to share real-time information once reserved for journalists and first responders.

He said he understands the county’s rationale, especially in rural areas where spotty cell service leaves few safe alternatives.

“Rural areas where there’s no cell phone coverage — there’s no way for them to communicate without the radio,” Edwards said. “As far as the simplicity on their end, the encrypted radio was the way to go.”

Still, he acknowledged the broader implications.  

“I don’t think Napa is in the business of being nontransparent,” he said, adding that residents can still request police information through public records.

County Supervisor Belia Ramos said the decision to encrypt radios was made by law enforcement and did not require a public hearing. She called it a necessary balance between complying with state privacy rules and protecting officer safety.

“I do not see another way around this, and i think we are making the wise choice,” Ramos said.

For decades, journalists and residents across California have relied on open radio transmissions to follow unfolding events and verify official accounts.

“I’m not sure that the general community members know how important police radio communication has been historically in the flow of communication,” said Ginny LaRoe, advocacy director for the First Amendment Coalition, a California-based nonprofit that defends public access and freedom of information.

Efforts to restrict access to scanner traffic are not new, but advocates say the DOJ memo gave agencies cover to move toward secrecy.

By March 2023, state Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, said at least 100 law enforcement agencies statewide had encrypted their radio systems. He introduced the Law Enforcement Communications Transparency Act, which would have allowed partial public access while shielding confidential or tactical information. The bill failed in January 2024 after facing objections over cost, operational burden and potential safety exemptions.

A growing statewide trend

The Berkeley Police Department was the most recent in the East Bay to make the switch. Its decision gained wide attention because encryption required city leaders to overturn a policy keeping radio communications open to the public.

Berkeley police argued that staffing shortages and funding constraints made it difficult to manage multiple radio feeds, and that public broadcasts could endanger officers or help suspects evade arrest.

Richard Carpiano, a public policy professor at UC Riverside, said the optics of full encryption can appear troubling amid public demands for transparency.

“Absent a more-significant justification, this seems like a concerning move that basically limits the ability for police agencies to be accountable to the public in various sorts of ways,” he said. “There’s certainly a trust and credibility concern that needs to be built up over the past few years.”

LaRoe, with the First Amendment Coalition, said the DOJ memo has often been treated as a blanket order to encrypt police radios, even though it simply directs agencies to protect sensitive personal information. She said departments can meet that requirement without cutting off all public access.

“Police secrecy is not the answer,” she said. “The agency should find more balanced and careful ways to protect community members’ privacy interest.”

In neighboring Sonoma County, law enforcement agencies say they are complying with the DOJ’s privacy guidelines but have no plans to fully encrypt their radios.

“There are no discussions to fully encrypt all of our channels/talk groups because to do so would hinder our ability to communicate with other agencies, or for them to communicate with us, during a mutual aid event,” said Santa Rosa police Sgt. Patricia Seffens. “Tubbs Fire, sideshow enforcement and officer in need of emergency assistance requests are some examples of how/when we have used the unencrypted radio channel to effectively communicate with other agencies.”

For now, Napa stands apart — one of a growing number of California communities where police radio traffic, once a public staple of local life, has gone quiet.