Police Scanners – Online and Traditional to become a thing of the past?

Online Police Scanner websites and apps
This story from the AP relates closely to the article about online police scanners that we’ve talked about in the past. For more information on police scanners, see that article which has been updated with our favorite police scanner smartphone apps.

“The practice of encryption has become increasingly common from Florida to New York and west to California, with law enforcement officials saying they want to keep criminals from using officers’ internal chatter to evade them. But journalists and neighborhood watchdogs say open communications ensure that the public receives information as quickly as possible that can be vital to their safety.

“The transition to encryption has put police departments at odds with the news media, who say their newsgathering is impeded when they can’t use scanners to monitor developing crimes and disasters. Journalists and scanner hobbyists argue that police departments already have the capability to communicate securely and should be able to adjust to the times without reverting to full encryption. And they say alert scanner listeners have even helped police solve crimes.”

Read the full story on USA Today here: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-11-20/police-encrypted-radios/51319598/1

Use Your Manners When Shooting in Public

I’ve been disappointed on countless occasions to pull up to my favorite shooting spot on BLM land and see it littered not just with brass, but shotgun shells, wood crates, glass bottles, televisions, computers, water heaters and all sorts of other trash left behind by people too lazy to pick up after themselves.

I see it as a privilege to be able to shoot on that land without range fees and without the need to follow someone else’s rules. Apparently others see it as an invitation to leave the manners at home and litter openly—in most cases to a severity they would never even consider doing on the side of the road or in their neighbor’s back yard.

When I go to this area, I take garbage sacks with me and when we’re done shooting, we spend a good 20 minutes cleaning up other people’s garbage (in addition to our own) in the hopes of dispelling the reputation that shooters are so often labeled with. I encourage you to do the same.

If getting rid or improving that stereotype weren’t enough, maybe the threat of being banned from shooting on BLM lad will be. Check out this article:

Obama Pushing Shooters Off Public Lands

“Gun owners who have historically been able to use public lands for target practice would be barred from potentially millions of acres under new rules drafted by the Interior Department, the first major move by the Obama administration to impose limits on firearms.”

From the proposed policy:

“When the authorized officer determines that a site or area on BLM-managed lands used on a regular basis for recreational shooting is creating public disturbance, or is creating risk to other persons on public lands; is contributing to the defacement, removal or destruction of natural features, native plants, cultural resources, historic structures or government and/or private property; is facilitating or creating a condition of littering, refuse accumulation and abandoned personal property is violating existing use restrictions, closure and restriction orders, or supplementary rules notices, and reasonable attempts to reduce or eliminate the violations by the BLM have been unsuccessful, the authorized officer will close the affected area to recreational shooting.”

Let’s all work together to keep the freedoms we enjoy—in this case, I don’t believe it’s so much about politics as manners and a common sense.