Detroit Police Scanner Deep Dive: A Tale of Two Michigan Cities
Michigan's two largest cities made opposite choices. Grand Rapids encrypted police radio in late 2021 when Kent County's new P25 system came online, leaving residents a bare-bones web incident monitor. Detroit—the state's largest city, with its long history of police-community conflict—is still transmitting dispatch in the clear as of June 2026. Both operate under the same federal CJIS rules. The question is whether Detroit holds the line as the October 2026 compliance deadline approaches, or follows Grand Rapids into the dark.
What Michigan listeners can still monitor on MPSCS
Metro Detroit suburbs are encrypting under a broad reading of CJIS, and Detroit is expected to follow. But Detroit's still-in-the-clear MPSCS dispatch talkgroups, Kent County fire/EMS, federal agencies, DTW aviation, and NOAA weather all remain accessible as of June 2026. This is the stack to have before any Detroit cutover.
Same state, different choices
Detroit (Still Open, June 2026)
- Population: 640,000
- Precinct dispatch in the clear on MPSCS
- Live Broadcastify feeds carry DPD audio
- Expected to encrypt ahead of October 2026 CJIS audits
- Complex police-community history makes access matter
Grand Rapids (Encrypted Since 2021)
- Population: 200,000
- Police traffic encrypted county-wide in late 2021-2022
- Kent County Sheriff and all local PDs encrypted
- Web "Incident Status Monitor" instead of audio
- Fire and EMS remain in the clear
Both cities follow the same federal CJIS rules. The difference in what their residents can hear is a policy decision, not a legal one—and Detroit residents could still lose what Grand Rapids residents already have.
What CJIS actually requires
Michigan agencies cite the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy as their reason for encrypting. The policy is narrower than agencies typically describe.
What CJIS actually requires
When Criminal Justice Information (CJI)—such as NCIC data, criminal histories, or protected personal information—is transmitted over radio outside a secure facility, it must be encrypted.
What CJIS does not require
The FBI policy does not require every word over the radio to be encrypted. Routine dispatch traffic, location updates, and calls for service can remain open if they don't contain CJIS-protected data.
What departments choose
Many departments choose full encryption rather than implementing selective encryption. It's administratively simpler—but it eliminates all public access, not just protected information.
The hybrid alternative
Departments can keep main dispatch open while encrypting channels used for CJIS data. Detroit itself proves this is operationally feasible—DPD runs clear dispatch talkgroups alongside encrypted channels on MPSCS today.
The May 2025 guidance
In May 2025, Michigan State Police told all CJIS user agencies that CJI transmitted over radio must meet federal encryption standards. That guidance covers specific sensitive data types. It does not require encrypting every call for service, every location update, and every unit check-in. Agencies treating it as a mandate for full encryption are reading it more broadly than it's written.
What the CJIS policy covers and what it doesn't
Reading the actual CJIS requirements makes clear how much transparency agencies could preserve if they chose to:
Must Be Encrypted
- Criminal history records
- Social Security numbers
- Full dates of birth tied to criminal records
- Driver's license numbers linked to cases
- Biometric data (fingerprints, facial recognition)
- Detailed case histories from databases
Can Remain Open
- Initial dispatch calls for service
- Unit locations and status
- General incident descriptions
- Traffic stops (without database queries)
- Fire and EMS dispatch
- Routine patrol communications
CJIS protects specific categories of sensitive data. Departments that encrypt all radio traffic are going beyond what the policy requires.
Metro Detroit encryption status
Different counties and agencies across metro Detroit are at different stages of encryption:
| Agency | Status | Coverage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Police Department | Open | 640K | State's largest; precinct dispatch in the clear as of June 2026 |
| Michigan State Police | Open | Statewide | Dispatch unencrypted on MPSCS as of mid-2026 |
| Oakland County (simulcast system) | Partial | 1.3M | Encryption rolling out substation-by-substation since ~2023 |
| Southfield Police | Encrypted | 75K | Encrypted with its move to P25 (2023); fire still audible |
| Hamtramck Police | Encrypted | 28K | Among the metro suburbs that have gone dark |
| Grand Rapids / Kent County | Encrypted | 660K (county) | All county police encrypted with new P25 system, late 2021-2022 |
| Macomb County | Mixed | 880K | Largely unencrypted as of late 2023; in transition—verify current status |
Grand Rapids: what residents lose when a city encrypts
Grand Rapids is Michigan's second-largest city, and it already made the choice Detroit is facing. When Kent County's $25 million P25 dispatch system came online in late 2021 and early 2022, dispatch centers encrypted police radio for the Kent County Sheriff and every local police department in the county—Grand Rapids PD included.
What replaced the scanner
Kent County and Grand Rapids point residents to web-based "Incident Status Monitors" that list a general category, general location, and status. No audio, no detail, no way to independently verify anything.
What survived
Kent County fire and EMS dispatch remain in the clear—an implicit admission that open dispatch is compatible with operations when an agency wants it to be.
Same rules, different choice
Grand Rapids and Detroit face the same FBI CJIS Security Policy. Detroit has so far protected CJIS data while keeping dispatch open. Grand Rapids cut off all police audio. The policy permits either approach.
What it demonstrates
Detroit's still-open dispatch shows full encryption is not a legal necessity under CJIS. Grand Rapids shows how quickly access disappears when a system upgrade arrives without a transparency policy attached.
Michigan encryption timeline
What encryption would cost Detroit communities
Local journalism
The Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, and local TV stations still use real-time scanner access for breaking news inside the city. If Detroit encrypts, coverage would depend on what police choose to release and when.
Police accountability
Detroit has a documented history of police-community conflict, including periods of federal oversight. Encryption would remove one of the few tools residents have for independent monitoring.
Neighborhood situational awareness
Residents in neighborhoods with high crime rates would lose real-time information about active incidents on their blocks. The public safety benefit of scanner access disappears with encryption.
What gets lost
Scanner advocates point to past incidents where reporters heard about major structural fires or explosions over scanner traffic and alerted the public before official notifications went out. That kind of first-alert coverage disappears wherever encryption arrives.
Social media fills the gap badly
In encrypted suburbs, residents already turn to unverified social media posts for incident information. Rumors spread faster when no one can check them against a scanner. The information environment gets worse, not better.
Oversight organizations
The ACLU of Michigan reached a 2024 agreement with Detroit over facial recognition technology. Encrypted radio adds another layer of reduced oversight on top of an already constrained accountability picture.
The MPSCS system
Michigan's statewide radio infrastructure shapes how encryption rolls out:
Statewide P25 system
The Michigan Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS) is a P25 digital trunked system covering most of the state. State Police, Detroit, and Macomb County all operate on MPSCS.
Encryption is optional on MPSCS
MPSCS supports encryption but does not require it, talkgroup by talkgroup. As of mid-2026, both Detroit Police dispatch and Michigan State Police were still transmitting in the clear—while suburbs on the same system, and county systems like Oakland's, have encrypted.
Grand Rapids on the same standard
Grand Rapids and Kent County run a compatible P25 system—with police encryption switched on since late 2021. The technology supports either approach. Policy determines which one an agency chooses.
Monitoring what's left
OpenMHz and similar services stream accessible MPSCS talkgroups. When a channel encrypts, those feeds go silent. Watching which feeds go dark tracks the real-time spread of encryption across the state.
What Michigan residents can do
Several pressure points are available to Michigan residents, journalists, and community groups:
- Lead with Detroit in every conversation. Michigan's largest police department still runs open dispatch under the same CJIS rules every suburb cites. That fact undercuts every claim that full encryption is legally required.
- When an agency says the FBI requires encryption, ask for the specific policy language. CJIS requires protecting defined categories of sensitive data, not encrypting routine dispatch traffic.
- Michigan has an active Encryption Work Group. Attend and comment. Transparency advocates who show up shape the outcome more than those who don't.
- Push state legislators for a hybrid encryption standard. Michigan law could require agencies to keep dispatch open while encrypting channels that carry CJIS-protected data.
- If your community hasn't encrypted yet, act now. West Michigan and rural agencies still largely run open channels. Preventing encryption is less costly than reversing it.
- Use Michigan's Freedom of Information Act. Request the documents behind local encryption decisions, including any cost analysis, legal advice, and correspondence with MSP.
- Track what goes dark on OpenMHz and document the public safety information that disappears. Concrete examples of lost coverage carry more weight with city councils than abstract principles.
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Sources & Further Reading
- Michigan News Source: "Detroit To Hit the Mute Button as Police Encryption Spreads Across Michigan"
- C&G News: "Scanners go silent: Encryption blocks civilians from hearing police comms"
- Dave Bondy Substack: "Police scanner encryption spreading across metro Detroit"
- RadioReference.com: Wayne County and Detroit Metro Area scanner frequencies
- Michigan Encryption Work Group documentation
- FBI CJIS Security Policy requirements
- OpenMHz: MPSCS system feeds
- ACLU of Michigan: Detroit police accountability reporting