This from Brian Charles, who writes for the Pasadena Star News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune. The story is about how the Pasadena police department has switched to an encrypted digital radio system. thus rendering police scanners inoperative and supposedly deterring criminals (as well as the press, who rely on scanners for breaking news). To date, the police are unwilling to loan out scanners to the media:
Besides the Pasadena Star-News, several outlets regularly cover Pasadena. Among them the Los Angeles Times, The Pasadena Sun, The Pasadena Weekly, The Pasadena Journal, Mountain Views News, Patch, KPCC-FM, Sierra Madre Tattler, The Altadena Blog and several foreign language publications.
None of the outlets employ known criminals or bank robbers.
The key here is "KNOWN" criminals. (*whew!* -- our disguise is holding up).
And it's "Altadenablog," one word, no "The".
And editorially: Brian's right. Without a scanner, we rely entirely on the police to tell us when something's going down. The sheriffs are still on an analog system, but will move to a digital system by the end of the year.
More of our thoughts are at Andre Coleman's recent Pasadena Weekly piece here.
