Is Listening In...Now Out?

 

Some may remember the old TV show “Car 54, Where Are You?” The city of Oakland has now joined some other California jurisdictions that are encrypting police radio calls, which means that the location of Car 54 is none of the public’s business anymore.

I worked for decades as a radio station news director in Southern California. Not long after I moved away, I learned that my former home city had signed on to a regional encrypted communications system. There, anyone at home with a radio scanner can no longer hear their local police traffic. Have listeners been deprived of a public right?

For me, the answer had always been an unequivocal YES. The scanner in our newsroom was a critical piece of equipment when major incidents occurred that required police response, and we made sure that our own listeners, many of whom were taxpayers, were kept in the know as we followed up on those stories. In the case of a fatal traffic accident, a jewelry store holdup, or a school shooting, the public needs the information.

The California Department of Justice hasn’t mandated encryption, but has directed police agencies to prevent confidential criminal justice material and personal identifiable information from disclosure in radio transmissions. Police departments have found that total encryption is the simplest way to meet this standard. Plus, it’s argued that the safety of police officers is at risk if listener access continues. State Senator Josh Becker has authored legislation to fight the total encryption trend in the interest of public transparency, but so far, his effort have been unsuccessful.

These days, I can see both sides. If I were a police officer on patrol, I might wonder if being “live on the air “has anything to do with my job, which is enforcing the law. Does the public really need to hear my every move in “making the sausage,” so to speak? In many jurisdictions, officers are required to wear body cameras, so they’re already making videos of their performance, just not live ones.

The scanner isn’t completely silent, though. Even in areas where police calls are encrypted, fire department traffic typically is not, so the public still can listen to firefighters responding to incidents. And in the modern world, there are many other electronic means of communicating vital public safety information.

If it were up to me, I would allow routine police patrol channels to be open to listeners, or at least give news media such access. Many police departments can easily switch to encrypted channels in sensitive situations. There is room for compromise here, but whatever side you’re on, I guess that in the end, what’s most important is how the sausage comes out.

 

Happy National Radio Day

 If commercial radio had a Golden Age, I grew up in a big part of it!

First, as a child, I lived in New York City. On WINS 1010, there was Murray the K, who aired the latest Beatles songs as they were phoned into him from the UK. On WABC, there was Dan Ingram. On WMCA, there was Barry Gray’s talk show at night. On WOR, Dr. Carlton Fredericks warned us every Sunday afternoon of the dangers of cholesterol, way before that was cool.

I attended a summer camp in Maine when I was a boy, and occasionally we would go on hiking trips, sleeping overnight. I couldn’t sleep well outside at night, so I played with my 6-transistor Sony portable radio. The first station I tuned in was WCFL in Chicago. CHICAGO, I thought, amazing! Then there was WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia, WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana, WCCO in Minneapolis, and KMOX in St. Louis. I was so excited I wanted to tell the other campers, except it was midnight, and I had to wait until morning.

Later, I would have a show at my college station. My first real commercial job was at New York’s WCBS 880, shortly after its all-news format was introduced. As a lowly desk assistant, I had to bring copy to anchors such as Charles Osgood. Ed Bradley, a reporter, sent me a Christmas card. I went on to work at stations in Central Virginia and Palm Springs, California. I never wanted to be on TV. Radio was my thing.

Now, I have nothing against the internet, which like most of us, I use all the time. Even accessing a podcast from a car involves radio waves. You just can’t get  away from it.

There are those times when your local radio station may save your life. If there is a disaster of significance where you live or work, access to the internet and the broadband networks may be difficult or impossible. Your power may be out, and  you won’t be able to see cable TV or your local TV stations. But chances are, you have an old-fashioned battery-operated receiver to hear local radio stations still on the air, telling you what you need to know. There may be fewer of those, as the powers-that-be in the federal government don’t want to fund public radio stations anymore. Sad!

Many think that radio, as we have come to know it, is dying. Not me!  After all, conventional radio is the only free medium whose content you can consume while you do other stuff, without being tied to a printed page or a screen. I think we still need it.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Nothing like a good conspiracy to spice up the summer headlines, as if they needed spice these days. Now there is a burgeoning demand for releasing government files on the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender accused of the abuse and sex trafficking of minors, who died six years ago after killing himself in jail – or so we have been told.

Epstein had a large social coterie of rich and powerful people, some of whom may have  been his clients seeking sex with teenage girls. First, the government implied there was a client list, but later denied it. This has only intensified the call to release all the federal files in the case.

Those seeking the release want names, names, names – including those of people who partied with Epstein or flew to his private island or possibly committed crimes themselves -- people it is alleged that the government has been protecting from exposure. It should be noted that there are many names out there already, available not only from news accounts but from public court transcripts. But for many observers, that’s not good enough.

Just being named could cause considerable embarrassment or even shame. The court of public opinion is sometimes far less forgiving than our judicial system. Is it fair that everyone in Epstein’s circle, including those only there to hobknob with other rich and powerful people, be shamed?

There is another layer, though -- people connected to Epstein who knew about his sexual activity but failed to report it. Should they have said something?

Some names will likely never be released officially, such as those of key witnesses who contributed to the investigation and, of course, those of the victims.

Suppose the release of the Epstein files happens but doesn’t do the political damage that is expected or fails to confirm the elements of conspiracy theories. Will we be hearing about it forever, when there is so much else going on?

I certainly would like to see criminal and/or moral justice done, wherever the chips may fall, but I pray that it happens quickly. We do have to remember that the Epstein case includes real teenage victims. Those still living are adults now but could be forced by the resurfacing of this story to relive their trauma while many of the rest of us are publicly obsessing about it. That’s the part that’s really not fair.

 

Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda...and Oughta

It absolutely never fails. A great disaster comes along, followed very shortly thereafter, maybe too shortly, by the critics needing to pin the blame on somebody.  In the case of the Texas Hill Country flood, some Democratic leaders pointed to the Trump administration’s funding cuts to the National Weather Service.

If blame is to be accurately fixed, it should go way back before this and spread out among many people. It’s said that almost a decade ago, the Texas legislature failed to approve money for a siren system to alert those along the Guadalupe River to a flood emergency. There has been much talk about it since, but no impetus for action until now.

As for the Weather Service, it did issue warnings before the flood, and there were extra staff members on duty. The reported lack of an experienced NWS emergency coordinator due to his taking early retirement in the DOGE days has been cited, but I’m willing to bet that the individual didn’t leave the job with key information trapped in his head. I’m sure that procedures were written down for others to follow. It’s government, remember. But did people receive the warnings?

We are so digitally connected now that we think we will always get the message when something is wrong. Really? Even in a hilly place where connections to a cell tower may be spotty? And when people are on vacation, some are there because they DON’T want to be connected to the outside world.

Sirens seem so old-fashioned as a means of getting our attention. So what, if the job gets done? More modern but still old tech, and cheap, is the NOAA weather radio, which will wake folks up if an alarm is sounded.

All of this said, when the analysis of this Texas flood response is done, it will turn up not only procedural but human errors. You can have all the machinery in place, but it has to be used correctly. And there have to be layers of redundancy, so that if a ball is dropped, it will be picked up somewhere else.

Things have changed over the years, like the climate, ya think? Sure, the Guadalupe River area had seen flash floods before, but nothing like this. You can put the Palisades and Eaton firestorms in a similar category: Santa Ana winds, even severe, had hit Southern California many times, but nothing quite like the 100-mph blast last winter. There will be plenty more of these incidents, and we had better get on top of the learning curve about how to be ready for them.

 

Even in Palm Springs

 

Palm Springs, California, is not a strange place to headline writers. All kinds of stories from this international resort region make the news, via celebrity sightings and their occasional misdeeds, Presidential visits, Coachella fashion, major golf and tennis tournaments, the odd wildfire and earthquake, and its lovely winter weather, spring sandstorms, and 120-degree heat in summer. But a bombing?

I speak from some experience, as I was a radio news director in the city for the better part of three decades, and I just don’t remember one of those. One of the elements that makes this big news, of course, is that such things just aren’t supposed to happen in a place like Palm Springs.  But now that this unfortunate box has been checked, I have noticed a familiar pattern about the aftermath.

First, the news conferences put on by the authorities aren’t that much help, information-wise. “it’s under investigation.” In this case, the cops and city officials used a good portion of their time to send a “Palm Springs Strong” message. That may seem a little beside the point, but Palm Springs, while officially a city, is a small one, and a tight-knit community that needs to hear such things right now.

The next phase is, now that the deceased bomber’s name is known, every single moment of his life has become a subject of intense interest to determine a motive. There is usually a third thing, the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” phase, in which the goal is to find out what signals were missed before the incident and who missed them.

The really unusual part of this is, the perpetrator’s apparent motive for targeting an IVF facility. I must confess I was unfamiliar with the “anti-natalist” movement. Apparently, these are folks who believe that it’s cruel to bring a child into the world, who will only face suffering. Of all the demons that prompt someone to commit violent acts, these are the darkest I have ever heard of.

It should never have happened in Palm Springs, but it did. It’s just the latest reminder that such things can happen just about anywhere, and over time, probably will. But life, as they say, goes on, and we can be grateful for how many incidents like this don’t happen, not only because of the diligence of police investigators, but because neighbors and others in their own communities are able to see what’s coming and take action. I do enjoy the internet and social media – except when these seem to fuel fires that might otherwise burn themselves out.

 

Owning It

President Trump, who likes to surprise and shock, did it again by suggesting that the US should “own” the Gaza Strip and transform it into the Riviera of the Middle East after the immense damage caused by Israel’s war with Hamas. His idea has not been received well by countries in the region – especially the part about moving almost two million Palestinians out of the territory while the rubble is cleaned up.

It's useful to remember that among the roles Mr. Trump had before he was President was that of developer. Developers are drawn to see opportunity where there is a depressed area. The only problem with such ideas is that there are often people in the way. You might think, as Mr. Trump does, that those who lived in Gaza before the war could not possibly want to stay there now amid all the rubble. Except that’s what many are doing, as it’s their home. They can’t just leave forever.

Our country does own something: the responsibility for helping to rebuild Gaza. We might think that’s not our job. But among the debris on the ground that Gazan children are playing with are the remains of bombs with “Made in the USA” on them, or words to that effect, as we supplied many of the bombs Israel has dropped during the war. At the very least, it’s a serious optics issue for us.

What Gaza needs is kind of a Marshall Plan, named after George C. Marshall, the American general and Secretary of State who put forth the idea of the US helping Western Europe recover from the ravages of World War II. Among the countries it benefited was our former enemy in that conflict, Germany. The goal was simply to help these places get back on their feet, not to take them over permanently.

I actually don’t have a problem with what appears to be part of Mr. Trump’s vision. Gaza’s long Mediterranean coastline is a valuable asset, and resort hotels being built on portions of it could be a significant source of income for the territory, or autonomous region, or enclave, whatever Gaza is called. Maybe someday it could be an independent country, preferably without Hamas in charge.

Does the Israeli-Palestinian conflict need a two-state solution? It almost could be three states, since the Palestinians in Gaza are said to be different from their brethren in the West Bank, and unified governance might be difficult. But let’s not get ahead of our skis, as they say – the war isn’t quite over yet.

Birthright

 

If you were born here, you are an American. That’s what the Constitution says, and that’s what a federal judge said in response to our new President’s attempt to eliminate birthright citizenship by executive order.

That judge is right. But if it were up to me, and I had a magic wand, I would add one wrinkle. Even if you were born here, when you turned 21, you would, if capable, have to take the same civics test given to immigrants seeking citizenship, which demands at least a minimal knowledge of how our country works. If you failed, you would have to take a civics course and try again.

Why would I even suggest such a thing? I think it’s because it appears to me that many of us who were born here believe that it makes us better than others who weren’t, especially where race is involved. But we can’t take credit for being born here. We were just lucky, or if you prefer, blessed.

The same, by the way, goes for race. I am Caucasian, but I had nothing to do with that. Before I was born, God did not show me a bunch of color swatches like in a paint store. I did not get to say, “I think I’ll go with beige today.”

My proposal has exclusions. Native Americans would not have to take the civics test. They were here first. Black people who are descendants of slaves would be excused from the requirement as well, because their ancestors were imported here against their will.

It may seem contradictory, but I would not have a problem with someone foreign-born being elected a US President. That individual would have to be a naturalized citizen for at least 25 years and would have to have resided here during that time. This would open the door to talented people with a love of this country who are currently shut out of the Presidential election process. Yes, it could open it up to bad people too, but history shows that the current US birth requirement hasn’t always produced the best results.

OK, calm down folks, these are just ideas I have been playing with in my head. It’s unlikely that anybody is going to change the law in the near future – amending the Constitution is difficult, and it should be. And my ideas would just call for more bureaucrats for administration anyway. But I have a persistent conviction that being American is more than just a question of geography.