Police scanners have often been the first sign of news that is breaking. But these days, police scanners are going silent.

In most newsrooms, a scanner that picks up on local police and fire communications provides a constant stream of background noise that often prompts reporters to leap into action when they hear ...

For decades, police radio communications were one of the few ways the public and the press could independently understand ...

Late last month, the citizens of Boulder lost a crucial tool of transparency when the Boulder Police Department began encrypting its communications. While most people are probably most familiar with ...

BERKELEY — Full public access to police scanner activity in the East Bay will soon be unavailable after Berkeley councilmembers gave the city’s police department permission to encrypt radio ...

SALEM — The Salem Police Department has added digital encryption to its radio system to improve security of police officers and limit unauthorized access to personal, identifiable information. The ...

The Boston Police Department’s decision to digitally encrypt its radio transmissions might not seem like something worth our attention in the Berkshires. Nonetheless, when the head of the New England ...

Starting next year, public safety agencies across King County will “enhance” the encryption of their radio communications, blocking outside listeners from tuning into sensitive broadcasts. What that ...

The plan for civilian police scanners to go dark pushed a host to shut down his popular breaking news feed. EVERETT — As a young child, Daron Johnson listened to his dad’s police scanners. In his ...