Police Radio Encryption | Anne Arundel County Government

The Land Mobile Radio (LMR) System Capital Project, which began nearly a decade ago, now enables the Anne Arundel County Police Department to protect the dignity of victims and their families by keeping your personally identifiable information (PII) and other private and sensitive information secure. Sometimes, police officers and communications dispatchers must share PII such as names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, and medical or mental health conditions and histories over the radio, making this information vulnerable. Protected Health Information (PHI) about medical conditions, sexual assault, domestic violence, and child exploitation can also be at risk.

Encrypted radio transmissions prevent the identity and personal information of victims, witnesses, or individuals providing information to law enforcement from being revealed. This also helps protect the community from the growing prevalence of identity theft. According to the National Council on Identity Theft Protection, simple methods such as traditional identity theft and more complex methods such as synthetic identity theft are all on the rise. Professionals in the field believe that there is a new victim every 22 seconds. Furthermore, according to the Identity Theft Research Center’s (ITRC) Annual Data Breach Report, there will be a record number of data breaches in the U.S. in 2023, with at least 353 million individuals affected. The number of identity theft cases continues to rise. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Consumer Sentinel Network received more than 5.39 million reports in 2023.

Below is an example of how information can be compromised without the use of encryption:

Officers, along with fire/ambulance personnel, go to a family’s home to assist with a situation where a teenager is behaving irrationally and is about to harm himself.

With encryption, we protect your sensitive, private information that is transmitted over the police radio system. This information may include:

• Home address
• Name of the child
• Condition of the child
• Date of birth of the child
• Previous medical or mental health information
• Current medical or mental health information needed by EMS personnel.

The decision to encrypt police radio transmissions is intended not only to protect sensitive, personally identifiable information not intended for the public, but also to protect the integrity of law enforcement activities and ensure the safety of officers and the public.

Encryption technology secures the communication channels our officers and dispatchers use, preventing unauthorized access and minimizing the risk of releasing sensitive information such as police movements, operations, and specific investigation details. Encryption allows officers to safely, efficiently, and effectively respond to calls for service and communicate operational tactics without fear of suspects intercepting sensitive information, allowing us to better serve the public by safely closing critical incidents.

Additionally, the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy requires law enforcement agencies to encrypt criminal justice information, including personal information. This requirement applies to information and data transmitted via two-way radios, in addition to other forms of storage and transmission.