Chicago mayoral candidates pledge to give media access to police scanner traffic as city moves to encryption

Most of Chicago’s major mayoral candidates said they would undo Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s controversial plan to block live transmission of Police Department scanner traffic from the media if they are elected next year.

For decades, journalists and some members of the public have listened to police radio scanner traffic to keep tabs on what’s happening in the city. Lightfoot has argued that she wants to protect police scanner traffic by encrypting it and limiting access from the public so that criminals can’t listen in real-time and vandals can’t interfere with broadcasts. Under Lightfoot’s policy, scanner traffic would be released on a 30-minute delay, subject to potential redactions.

Earlier this month, the Chicago Tribune joined with eight other media outlets to protest Lightfoot’s decision, arguing that it would harm public safety and lead to less transparency.

“We strongly believe that any scanner transmission delay will negatively affect public safety and could put lives in jeopardy when mere seconds matter, for example, during an active shooter event, a tornado, a fire, a bomb scare, a plane crash, virtually any emergency event where the public might need to seek safety or shelter,” the newspaper said in a statement signed by several media outlets ranging from TV news channels to the public radio station.

In response to questions from the Tribune, Chicago’s mayoral candidates broadly criticized the mayor’s policy change.

South Side Ald. Sophia King, 4th, said she would allow media to have real-time access to police scanner traffic. She said there’s “no reason besides election year politics for the Mayor to dictate such a huge change in policy without collaboration.”

“Community members — especially those actively working to interrupt, prevent and respond restoratively to violence — should have the chance to hear the rationale, review the data, and offer ideas to address the impact,” King said. “This broad brush could cripple those grassroots efforts and the media’s ability to communicate critical safety situations in real time. We all want to protect our police officers and the privacy of victims and witnesses, but we need to find common ground and solutions by working together, not an edict from a mayor the people no longer trust.”

U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García similarly said he believes the media deserves the same level of access it has had for decades.

“Hiding police scanner transmissions from the news media prevents them from doing their job and makes us less safe. This is short-sighted and dangerous,” Garcia said in a statement. “We need a Mayor who will tackle crime, not try to hide it from us.”

While most of the candidates cast the issue as one of media access, Lightfoot has focused on police safety and keeping scanner communications out of the ears of “criminals.”

“It’s about officer safety. If it’s unencrypted … there’s no way to control criminals who are also gonna get access, listen in and adjust their criminal behavior in response to the information that’s being communicated,” Lightfoot said earlier this month.

City officials have further argued in favor of encryption because of “rogue” actors who interject comments over police traffic. The city has never presented evidence that news outlets have done that.

Among other candidates aiming to unseat Lightfoot in the Feb. 28 election, state Rep. Kambium “Kam” Buckner said “unequivocally yes” when asked if he would give media access to scanner traffic.

“This is an issue of transparency and good government, not safety,” he said. “The only people who stand to benefit from encrypting the scanners are the companies that stand to make millions in government contracts to do so. Taxpayers shouldn’t be funding cover ups.”

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson said Lightfoot’s decision to fully encrypt scanners “makes public safety more difficult for everyone involved — media, interrupters and even police, whose work is complemented by these entities.” He said he would give media real-time access to the scanners.

“Violence prevention groups are often tuned into incidents before they happen, and the role of the press is ‘to serve the governed, not the governors.’ This decision is consistent with the mayor’s failure to be transparent, but the negative impact is on safety,” Johnson said. “Mayor Lightfoot speaks often of an all hands on deck approach, but is unilaterally doing just the opposite on a critical issue for Chicagoans. That’s not how I govern. I will be collaborative and open to input from every stakeholder on solutions that work for all.”

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who has campaigned on a pro-police platform, rejected the mayor’s new rules for scanners and approach.

“The media has been shut out by a non-transparent mayor and then drawn into her Chicago Way modus operandi — backroom negotiation,” Vallas said. “Encrypt with real-time restricted access given to credentialed media. Public Safety advanced with full protection of 1st Amendment values. Full stop.”

Activist Ja’Mal Green said he would “overturn” Lightfoot’s action on scanners if he is elected mayor.

“Lightfoot’s decision to ban the people’s right to listen to our public servants proves, once again, that this is the darkest administration in my lifetime. She is continuously using her power to prevent transparency in our government,” Green said. “People have a right to listen. Journalists have a right to listen and report accurate information in real-time. It’s important for the public to be able to inform themselves, which is why this decision is inadmissible.”

Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, said he would want members of the media “to have near-constant access to the police scanner in real time” but said he can “see a time in which police might need temporary confidentiality during urgent circumstances, in which case all traffic would be made public as soon as it was no longer a threat to apprehending a suspect or a danger to the public.”

“But the goal should be transparency, and any limits I can imagine would be infrequent and short lived,” Sawyer said.

Businessman Willie Wilson criticized the mayor’s decision but was noncommittal on what he would do about it.

“The mayor’s failure to effectively communicate and support the police throughout her tenure undercuts her argument that this is done to protect police and first responders,” Wilson said. “When I become mayor, we will communicate with police, our citizens, and the media to develop a policy that is fair and transparent for our city.”