Daily Post
By Braden Cartwright
After a 20-month battle, the Palo Alto Police Department is unencrypting its radios to once again allow the public to listen in to police communications, acting Chief Andrew Binder announced yesterday.
The long fight for radio transparency spurred state legislation and united the publishers of the city’s two competing newspapers. A marathon council meeting didn’t result in any change, despite the mayor calling encryption a First Amendment issue.
In the end, a new chief made the difference.
By Sept. 1, Binder said Palo Alto will follow the model of the CHP, which protects personal information by having officers read only pieces of the information over their radios. Officers can also call the dispatch center on a cellphone, the department said in a statement...