In Colorado, over two dozen law enforcement agencies statewide have encrypted their radio communications, making it hard for crime reporters to cover their beat
Colorado journalists on the crime beat are increasingly in the dark. More than two-dozen law enforcement agencies statewide … Tweets: @jonathanwpeters , @hollyzachariah , @awinston , and @mattsebastian Tweets: Jonathan Peters / @jonathanwpeters : Many crime reporters in CO are in the dark, with 25+ police depts statewide encrypting all of their radio communications. That means journos can't use a scanner to learn about routine police calls, making it harder for them to cover crime. My @CJR piece: http://www.cjr.org/... http://twitter.com/... Holly Zachariah / @hollyzachariah : This is SO important and concerning. The way to cover news accurately is TO BE THERE. Public officials aren't obligated to TELL us anything, only obligated to produce records. We can't go to news if we don't know it's happening. http://twitter.com/... Ali Winston / @awinston : This is highly concerning for any American criminal justice reporter http://www.cjr.org/... Matt Sebastian / @mattsebastian : The @CJR looks at the fight over police-radio encryption in Colorado. As cops increasingly expect media to just wait for press releases, @madelinestamour makes a good point about the timeliness of the scanner: “It's also hard to spin things in real time” http://www.cjr.org/...