FITSNews Interview: Camden Mayor Vincent Sheheen

That was a nice and pleasant interview.

I am glad that Mayor Sheheen supports his Police force. They seem to have a good one. One thing that their police did recently which irked me and some people I have talked with, is encrypting their radio traffic so that interested citizens can no longer know what is happening in their town in real time. Earlier this year, Camden police joined the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Dept in becoming the secret police, by adding encryption to their radio system. I really wish both departments would re-think that move.

If there is a dangerous person last seen in my neighborhood, I like the extra real time warning that only comes from being able to listen to police on a scanner. Being awakened in the middle of the night by a boom and my house shaking, it was a comfort to turn on the scanner and learn that it was just another earthquake in Elgin. If I want to go somewhere and hear a bad wreck has occurred on the route I planned to take, I would go a different way. The encryption took these things from us.

Some departments tell citizens to check their Facebook pages, or use some other social media or similar gimmick. If something really big or bad is happening, dispatchers and desk Sergeants won’t be updating a social media page in a timely manner. Maybe not for hours, or days.

Please rectify this.
Thank you.