BERKELEY \u2014 Police scanners in Berkeley will officially be encrypted starting Thursday morning, officials said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Scanner encryption, the process of shifting officers and dispatch communication to a private channel, will align the city\u2019s police department with other law enforcement offices in the East Bay that began encrypting their feeds in October.<\/p>\n
Berkeley\u2019s decision to fully encrypt has been influenced by multiple factors.<\/p>\n
A 2020 memo by former Attorney General Xavier Becerra<\/a> called on agencies to protect peoples\u2019 sensitive identifiable information like their names, addresses, birthdates and social security numbers from scanner traffic that was available to the public.<\/p>\n That directive allowed agencies to keep feeds open while securely sharing sensitive information through other channels. The Berkeley Police Department has argued its dispatch staffing levels are too low to manage multiple feeds and the public feed has put officers in danger or enabled suspects to attempt to flee arrest.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Berkeley Police Department appreciates the community\u2019s understanding and continued partnership as we enhance our systems to better serve Berkeley. These changes ensure the protection of sensitive information while maintaining the highest possible level of transparency and accessibility,\u201d the department said in a statement.<\/p>\n As a compromise, the department has developed a real-time call log that will display information from the Computer-Aided Dispatch system including the date and time of the call, incident number, call type, source of call, priority level and general location of the incident. That log will be updated with a 10-minute delay and a 10-minute refresh.<\/p>\n Some incident information can also still be heard through the fire department\u2019s radio feed which will remain unencrypted. Police department updates will also be shared through Nixle, an emergency response communication tool, and on social media, the department said.<\/p>\n