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A bill authored by Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, that would require law enforcement agencies throughout California to find alternatives to encrypting their radio communications cleared its first hurdle Tuesday when the Senate Public Safety Committee voted to advance the legislation.
Becker’s legislation, Senate Bill 1000, responds to a recent trend of police departments throughout the state moving to encrypted radio communications, a switch that makes it impossible for journalists and other residents to monitor police activities. Palo Alto, which switched to an encrypted channel in January 2021, was among the early adopters. Almost every other police department in Santa Clara County has since made the switch…