LMPD Going To Fifteen Minute Radio Delay

Earlier this afternoon Councilman Ackerson's office received the letter below from the Public Information Office of the Louisville Metro Police Department concerning a change in policy in its radio transmissions.  Chief Erika Shields announces in the letter, dated three days ago, that LMPD would be delaying its radio transmissions by fifteen minutes, beginning today, March 28, 2022.  Again, the Council office was notified of this change earlier this afternoon. LMPD will continue to share its patrol radio transmissions with the public through the Broadcastify App and its website, www.broadcastify.com.  Below are links to the site which allows access to listeners on Broadcastify:

Police 1: https://m.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/36293

Police 2: https://m.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/36294

Police 3: https://m.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/36295

Police 4: https://m.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/36296

 

March 25, 2022

Contact LMPD PIO Office

lmpdpio@louisvilleky.gov

LMPD CONVERTING TO A 15-MINUTE RADIO DELAY TO IMPROVE PUBLIC SAFETY

For Immediate Release - To enhance the public’s safety and the safety of its officers, Louisville Metro Police Chief Erika Shields announced today that the department will be transitioning to an Advanced Encrypted Standard (AES) Radio System that will allow for a 15-minute delay of its radio transmissions. With this new system, police will continue to be able to respond to incidents immediately, but radio transmissions for anyone outside the department will no longer be in real-time.  This process will begin Monday, March 28, 2022.  

“With an alarming rise in active shooter incidents across the nation, LMPD recognized the need to convert its radio communications to a system with enhanced security capabilities,” said Chief Shields. “LMPD believes this transition is essential, as the department’s current radio communications platform compromises the safety of officers and the people they are attempting to protect.”

The department has experienced repeated instances where officers responding to highly volatile situations with many unknowns - most notably the suspect(s) location – are unnecessarily being put into vulnerable positions. This is due to highly sensitive radio transmissions being streamed live over widely available cellphone apps, potentially putting everyone involved in an incident at risk.

With the encryption, members of the public will still be able to access the radio traffic, but only after a 15-minute period.

“The safety and well-being of the greater-Louisville community is LMPD’s singularly most important mission, and this radio conversion is an important step toward implementing advanced safety technologies,” said Chief Shields. “We are one of many police departments nationally who view delayed radio transmissions as an essential measure, but, in the interest of transparency, we also want to reassure the community that we are still committed to sharing our radio communications with the public.”

In Kentucky, more than a dozen police departments operate on encrypted channels, including police departments in Lexington, Newport, Covington, Florence, and others. Nationally, police departments in Washington, DC, Nashville, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Denver, have all transitioned to some form of encryption.

The department will continue to share its patrol radio transmissions with the public through the Broadcastify App and its website, www.broadcastify.com. The 15-minute delay will not alter the content of any radio transmission. Additionally, the public may obtain copies of radio traffic through open records requests.

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