Comment Re:As a LEO supporter (Score 1) 126
My local police and sheriff use analog FM which means I can listen to everything they're doing (except when they call each other on their cell phones), and listening has given me a much better understanding of who they are and how they do their jobs. It changed my opinion from being very suspicious and untrusting to actually respecting them. That doesn't mean that every individual is perfect or that the institution wouldn't cover-up some mistakes, but I have listened to many calls where they back off and de-escalate or arrest a violent criminal (a murderer in one case) without incident. All we ever hear about are their mistakes but they're out there doing good work to maintain order in our society every day.
That being said, my impression of the NYPD is already quite negative and any agency switching to encrypted communication is going to lose a lot of trust with the community. It's a bad idea.