Police officials told a City Council budget hearing Wednesday that that the NYPD will encrypt officers’ radios to prevent “bad guys” from listening — but they failed to say what provisions are being made for the press to gain access since they too have been shut out.
Many precincts in Brooklyn and Staten Island have already had their radios encrypted, shutting press organizations out from vital information about emergency response — something which a coalition of media groups argue undermines police transparency. This forces journalists to rely largely upon police statements given long after the immediate response to crimes and other emergencies.
