As the city continues to stay mum on the plan to encrypt tens of thousands of police radios in New York City, yet another group is expressing concerns that they will also be shut out of the NYPD feed — volunteer firefighters and ambulance companies.
Dozens of volunteer ambulance groups currently respond to help New Yorkers around the city, and they monitor police radios to provide assistance.
Those radios will likely go silent should the NYPD proceed with its plan to encrypt all police radios in 2020, as reported Wednesday in amNewYork.
The NYPD, while not explicitly denying the amNewYork report, said in a statement Tuesday that the department “is undergoing a systems upgrade that is underway for the next 3-5 years.”
“Part of that upgrade includes ensuring radios can support either encrypted or non-encrypted use,” said Sergeant Jessica McCrory, a spokesperson for the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.