Gwinnett’s emergency dispatches enter digital age

The recent switchover to a digitally encrypted emergency dispatch system in Gwinnett County has drawn a veil of secrecy around police communications even as it has made transmissions clearer and more secure.

The $35 million Motorola P25 digital 911 system was paid for by the voter-approved penny sales tax.

Static and interference typical on the old analog system have been virtually eliminated since the switchover Monday, said Angie Conley, the Gwinnett 911 center’s communications manager.

“It’s a whole lot quieter,” Conley said. “It’s like officers are sitting in the room with you.”

Problems with some dead zones have also disappeared, Conley said. Previously, the areas near the Chattahoochee River in Peachtree Corners and behind Lanier Mountain in Centerville were notorious for having bad or dropped transmissions.

The department opted to encrypt the system as an added safety feature for officers, said Gwinnett Police spokeswoman Cpl. Illana Spellman.

“Clearly we don’t want to give away our advantage to someone who is going to break the law,” Spellman said. “The safety of officers is paramount.”

Yet the encryption doesn’t sit well with some police scanner hobbyists.

Gordon Edwards, a Dacula resident, operates a nationwide website called ScanAmerica.us where people can listen to streaming audio of police and fire dispatches in their area. Edwards said users have been posting complaints and e-mailing him directly with their gripes.

“Most people have been very disappointed and going into withdrawal symptoms since they can’t listen anymore,” Edwards said. “People are used to listening when they want to find out what’s going on in their area.”

Edwards said ordinary citizens can be an extra set of eyes and ears for police, especially when officers post a lookout for suspicious cars or people. Edwards said Cobb County has a digital emergency dispatch system that they do not encrypt, except for SWAT team and special operations communications.

Cobb County police officials did not return a request for comment.

DeKalb County also plans to transition to a digital operation in the future that will not be encrypted, said DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish.

Edwards questioned whether the encryption in Gwinnett is really for safety or secrecy, noting that “there is a little bit of distrust there.” He noted that even with the old analog system, there were certain channels that the public could not overhear that officers used when they needed additional security.

Ry Alford, a Lawrenceville resident and graduate of the Gwinnett County Police Department’s Citizen Police Academy, said he used to listen to a police scanner to increase his awareness of what was happening in his community. Alford said officer safety trumps his desire to listen, but he still wondered if there was a way to provide access to police communications for a group of “trusted citizens” who would submit to a background check.

Spellman said providing access to certain citizens or media is “not an option.” But she emphasized that the department isn’t trying to shut people out.

“Anyone that has any inquiries about what happened or what occurred, we are more than happy to provide that information,” Spellman said.