Is My City Encrypted?
Search our database of 2,856 encrypted agencies across 52 states to check if your local police scanner access has been blocked.
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Try: "Los Angeles", "Miami-Dade", "Cook County", or your city name
Encryption by the Numbers
Most Encrypted States
What if my city is encrypted?
What encryption actually means
Encryption blocks all consumer scanners from decoding police radio. No hardware upgrade changes that. It is a policy choice, not a technical requirement.
Learn more about encryption →Other communities have reversed it
Berkeley, Palo Alto, and others successfully pushed back after encryption decisions were made. The decision can be challenged.
See success stories →How to push back
Our guide covers FOIA requests, public testimony, coalition-building, and what to say to elected officials at each stage.
How to fight back →What you can still monitor
Even in heavily encrypted areas, fire, EMS, weather broadcasts, aviation, and many county channels stay in the clear. This gear covers what remains open:
Frequently Asked Questions
How often is this database updated?
We refresh agency data from RadioReference on a regular cycle. Right now 1,931 of the 2,856 agencies in the database have been checked against the RadioReference API directly; the rest are sourced from the community-maintained RadioReference Wiki and may lag behind real-world changes.
What does "encrypted" mean on this site?
It means the agency's radio traffic — all of it, or a specific subset like dispatch or tactical channels — is digitally encrypted and can't be decoded by a consumer scanner. Each agency page states the scope: full, dispatch-only, tactical-only, partial, or specific talkgroups.
My city or agency isn't listed — what does that mean?
Usually it means that agency isn't encrypted yet, since this database tracks encrypted agencies rather than every agency nationwide. It can also mean the agency is encrypted but hasn't been added yet. Check RadioReference.com directly for the most current status, and let us know if you have information to add.
Can I trust an agency listed as "unverified"?
Treat it as a starting point, not a confirmed fact. Unverified listings come from the community-edited RadioReference Wiki rather than a direct API check, so scope and encryption type can be outdated or slightly off. Verified listings have per-talkgroup data pulled directly from RadioReference.
Every encryption decision can be challenged
Every encrypted department got there through a process—usually with little public input. Whether your city has already gone dark or is still open, there is a way to weigh in.