Radio Encryption
We at the Los Altos Police Department wish to provide you with an update regarding our radio communications system, which is used to communicate sensitive, private information during our duties.
The Los Altos Police Department is authorized by the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) to access CLETS, which stands for the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. This is a computer network that provides law enforcement and criminal justice agencies with access to a variety of databases that contain data such as a person's identification information, criminal history, criminal record, and driving record information. One way that officers access CLETS is by using our police radio system called SVRCS (Silicon Valley Radio Communications System). This is the shared digital radio system that every police and fire department use in Santa Clara County. An example of how the police department uses this system would be when an officer makes a traffic stop and needs to verify that the driver has a valid license and does not have any outstanding warrants. To accomplish this, the officer provides personally identifiable information (PII), most often from a driver's license, over the radio to the emergency communication dispatchers so they can verify this information in the system (CLETS). Currently the main radio channel is not encrypted and anyone with a commercial scanner or a smartphone scanning app can listen and take down this information.
In October of 2020, the California Department of Justice notified every police department in the State of a policy update that mandates the transmission of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) be encrypted. The purpose of the mandate is to protect the privacy and identity of any person whose information is broadcast over a police radio frequency. The encryption requirement is to not only prevent potential identity theft, but also to give privacy to victims of crime. Police Department staff evaluated potential options to avoid the encryption mandate but found no viable options. Using a separate encrypted radio channel to query criminal history poses safety concerns as that would require additional staffing in the communications center to monitor the additional channel. We currently do not have sufficient staffing for this to take place.
Currently, of the thirteen Santa Clara County law enforcement agencies, there are four remaining whose radio frequencies are unencrypted. Los Altos is one of the four, along with Mountain View, Santa Clara, and Milpitas. Los Altos Police Department plans to make the transition on March 1, 2021. Every law enforcement agency within Santa Clara County will be switched over to encrypted transmissions by the end of this year.
We understand there may be concerns regarding the encryption. The Los Altos Police Department utilizes social media to keep the community up-to-date and provides tools for community members to keep informed about crime and events. We utilize several social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Nextdoor, Nixle, and AlertSCC. We typically utilize Twitter to keep media outlets informed of events or press releases. Media and community members can track crime information in the city at CityProtect.com. Most media inquiries received by the police department are from information obtained from CityProtect.com. In addition to the City of Los Altos Public Information Officer Sonia Lee, the police department administration or on duty supervisors are available to provide information to the media 24/7.
