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Next week, the Great Falls Police Department will go from three radio frequency channels to 1,000 as they switch to a digital radio system.

The switch comes from an FCC mandate requiring private mobile radio users to convert to a narrow band system by the end of the year.

Decreasing radio bandwidth creates availability of additional channels.

While many analog radios will still meet the requirement, with digital scanners the GFPD can set up different talk groups and channels to communicate more efficiently.

Captain Bryan Lockerby explained, "Since 9/11 that has always been one of the biggest concerns, is how communication breaks down. So when we have this digital platform, communication will be much stronger. And it's the biggest thing, first thing to break down in any incident is communication."

The new digital radios will affect traditional scanners used by the public to monitor police activity.

In the next several years the department may choose to switch to an encrypted system, which will not work for any scanners.

The department is currently testing the radios and plans to make the complete switch by February 8th.

What does the change mean for the public? The GFPD issued the following press release:

Anyone who uses a traditional scanner to monitor police radio traffic will no longer be able to hear GFPD radio communications. VHF digital systems are only compatible with VHF digital scanners, which can be more costly to purchase.

It should be noted that there are public safety agencies that currently utilize either analog and/or digital VHF systems. Analog systems can still be monitored by traditional scanners; digital systems can not. The public should still be able to monitor a number of local agencies that use analog systems and have no plans to switch to a digital system.

The public is also cautioned that the long-term plan for GFPD communications will involve a "trunked" radio-encryption system. In other words, all radio communications will eventually be scrambled and can not be monitored by any means, including VHF digital scanners. This is part of the continued development plan of radio communication interoperability; there is currently no set timeline for this enhancement.

Effective February 6-8, 2012, GFPD frequencies shall be:

Channel 1: 155.0100
Channel 2: 159.150
Talk-around: 159-0600 (car to car)

For more information about this issue, call the GFPD at 771-1180.