13 fire departments in the northwest suburbs of Chicago – including some in Lake and McHenry counties – quietly encrypted their radio communications from the public, a rare move that raises questions about government transparency.
The Northwest Central Dispatch System (NWCDS) is a consolidated dispatch center in Arlington Heights that provides public safety dispatching for first responders in 14 communities.
Those departments include Arlington Heights Police & Fire, Barrington Police & Fire, Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District, Buffalo Grove Police & Fire, Elk Grove Village Police & Fire, Hoffman Estates Police & Fire, Inverness Police, Inverness Fire Protection District, Mount Prospect Police & Fire, Palatine Police & Fire, Prospect Heights Police, Rolling Meadows Police & Fire, Schaumburg Police & Fire, Streamwood Police & Fire and Wheeling Police & Fire.
The 13 fire departments part of NWCDS quietly encrypted their radio communications at around 8 a.m. on October 15, preventing the public from using digital police scanners or online streaming services – like police scanner apps – to listen in.
The three radio talkgroups that were permanently encrypted are called FD-1, FD-2 and FD-3 – together making up the 13 fire departments’ dispatch radio communications.
They operate on Illinois’ STARCOM21 public safety radio network by Motorola Solutions.
NWCDS’s “fireground” radio talkgroups – used by fire/rescue personnel as a talkaround channel at the scene of an incident – remain unencrypted.
Not all NWCDS departments use fireground talkgroups and those that do only use them at certain calls.
NWCDS did not release information on their social media pages or on their website informing residents of the change.
The NWCDS Executive Committee has discussed the topic of radio encryption multiple times in the past few years.
The 13 departments together serve a little over 500,000 residents and cover nearly 200 square miles, with Arlington Heights and Schaumburg being the most populous municipalities and the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District covering more area than the other departments.
NWCDS answers an average of 1,677 phone calls every day and dispatches around 246,000 calls for service every year, according to their website.
The NWCDS Executive Committee first brought up the topic of radio encryption at a meeting in March 2024.
In that meeting, NWCDS Executive Director John Ferraro said that the committee is “still against mandating the removal of encryption” in response to Illinois House Bill 4339, according to the meeting’s minutes.
HB4339 – proposed in January 2024 by Rep. La Shawn K. Ford [D-Illinois] of the Illinois House of Representatives 8th District – would amend Illinois’ Local Records Act to require police to provide news media with live access to encrypted transmissions. The bill failed to pass through the Illinois General Assembly.
Rep. Ford spoke with Lake and McHenry County Scanner regarding his bill and the recent encryption by NWCDS.
“They [NWCDS] are not a model,” Ford said.
Ford said his bill failed to pass because some law enforcement officials were opposed to it at the time, but he is hopeful that local law enforcement could have a change of heart if a new bill were proposed today.
“The ultimate goal is to make sure the public and the press know what’s happening in real-time,” Ford added.
Throughout 2024, the NWCDS Executive Committee discussed whether to move forward with encrypting their fire dispatch radio communications.
In November 2024, the executive committee agreed to form a subcommittee consisting of police and fire department leaders and NWCDS personnel that would “weigh the pros and cons of encryption,” according to the meeting’s minutes.
“Encrypting fire talk groups was discussed at the Police and Fire Liaison meetings in 2024,” a January 2025 meeting’s minutes said.
“There have been scene safety concerns, because while the police talk groups are encrypted, the fire talk groups are not. This means that citizens with scanners or scanner apps can hear high risk incidents that require police and EMS (or fire) being dispatched by NWCDS,” the minutes said.
The new encryption subcommittee first met on January 15, 2025. Representatives from police and fire departments, as well as NWCDS personnel, attended that meeting.
The subcommittee met two more times in January and February.
After three meetings, the subcommittee voted 4-3 in favor of encryption, and the police liaison committee voted 5-1 in favor.
The final decision to encrypt was made on March 20 after the NWCDS Joint Board of Directors and its executive committee both voted in favor of encryption.
The vote at the board level was unanimous. The executive committee voted 23-2 in favor of encryption.
Arlington Heights Police Chief Nick Pecora, Arlington Heights Fire Chief Lance Harris, Barrington Police Chief David Daigle, Barrington Fire Chief John Christian, Buffalo Grove Deputy Police Chief Brian Spolar for Chief Brian Budds, Elk Grove Village Deputy Police Chief Scott Eisenmenger, Elk Grove Village Fire Chief Richard Mikel, Hoffman Estates Police Chief Kasia Cawley, Hoffman Estates Fire Chief Alan Wax, Inverness Police Chief Kyle Ingebrigtsen, Mount Prospect Police Chief Michael Eterno, then-Mount Prospect Fire Chief John Dolan, Palatine Police Chief Bill Nord, then-Palatine Fire Chief Pat Gratzianna, Prospect Heights Police Chief Milorad Derman, Rolling Meadows Police Chief John Nowacki, Rolling Meadows Fire Chief Peter Sutter, Schaumburg Police Chief Bill Wolf, then-Schaumburg Fire Chief Jim Walters, Streamwood Police Chief Shawn Taylor, Streamwood Fire Chief Michael Meyer, Wheeling Deputy Police Chief Al Steffen for then-Chief Jamie Dunne and Wheeling Fire Chief Scott Salela all voted “aye” for encryption.
Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District Chief Scott Motisi and Inverness Fire Protection District Chief Richard Kurka were the only two who voted “nay” against encryption.
Kurka told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that his “nay” vote was largely based on financial reasons.
“My rationale was that I didn’t want an organization to be responsible for the financial repercussions or the financial costs if the project was over budget,” Kurka said.
Kurka believes part of the reason that his department and the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District voted against encryption, while the municipal departments voted for it, was due to the increased financial obligations.
“We’re the only two that represent fire districts – everybody else is a fire department, part of a village entity,” Kurka said.
“As districts, we’re kind of self-pay when it comes to dispatch. Everyone else funnels their 911 money to central dispatch, and that’s the way they pay for services. Our money does not work the same way. The district ends up having to foot its own bill for dispatch services. That’s why you see the two districts that voted no and all the municipal departments voted yes,” Kurka said.
Kurka added that his department had to purchase its own radios for the encryption shift while the municipal entities were able to use NWCDS funds.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner also reached out to Motisi for comment on his “nay” vote, but he deferred to Executive Director Ferraro.
Motisi said that Kurka’s comments regarding the encryption “are his and his alone and do not reflect mine or BCFPD’s organizational opinions regarding this topic in any way shape or form.”
The recent encryption by NWCDS follows a rare but slowly increasing trend of dispatch centers and municipalities in the Chicagoland area encrypting fire/rescue radio communications from the public.
The Waukegan Fire Department, which is Lake County’s busiest fire department by call volume, encrypted its radio communications in February 2025.
Every other local fire department in the county remains unencrypted.
The Naperville and Joliet fire departments – both serving around 150,000 residents – are encrypted, but unencrypted radio traffic of the Naperville Fire Department is provided on occasion.
Encryption of police radio systems, on the other hand, is common in parts of Chicagoland.
In Lake County, all local police agencies are encrypted on Illinois’ STARCOM21 public safety radio network, while some police agencies in McHenry County, like the sheriff’s office, remain unencrypted.
In the City of Chicago, most police channels are encrypted, but the city partners with the website Broadcastify to offer encrypted radio traffic on a 30-minute delay.
NWCDS encrypted radio traffic for their police departments in 2011 – more than a decade ago.
Proponents of radio encryption argue that it helps keep first responders safe and limits the public and journalists from gathering at emergency incidents, while opponents argue that it compromises government transparency and prevents the public from learning about news in their communities.
Proponents also argue that encryption helps protect sensitive information, such as that of victims and medical patients.
NWCDS Executive Director John Ferraro told Lake and McHenry County Scanner, “The talk groups were encrypted for scene safety – for the safety of the citizens and the responders and for patient confidentiality.”
Ferraro had no comment when asked about the public’s concerns for government transparency.
When asked about patient information relayed over the unencrypted NWCDS fireground talkgroups, Ferraro responded that “the dispatch center does not control fire ground communication. It is up to each fire department’s policy as to what fire ground is used for.”
Martha Lora, a product manager at Motorola Solutions, said in a 2023 blog post that the benefits of encryption include “enhancing coordination and response efforts, complying with data protection regulations, reducing the risk of data leaks, and protecting the privacy of individuals.”
“In sensitive situations such as drug busts, human trafficking and terrorist attacks, it can protect vital details that might compromise the safety of both emergency responders as well as victims,” Lora said.
Opponents of radio encryption raise concerns about the implications that the recent encryption can have for government transparency and public safety.
Interoperability with other fire departments – such as in disasters or large-scale incidents requiring mutual aid – could also be hindered if a department does not possess STARCOM21 or encryption-capable radios.
Opponents of encryption also argued that such a change could be costly due to the updating and programming of radios.
NWCDS identified several solutions, like using a mobile app, that would allow fire departments not part of NWCDS to listen and transmit communications.
It is unknown if such an app is currently in use or will be in use in the future.
“Updating fire radios within NWCDS fire stations is a relatively low-cost investment, estimated at approximately $500 per unit,” a meeting’s minutes said.
TJ Seputis, a 21-year-old man from Arlington Heights, has been a licensed amateur radio operator for nine years and has been scanning radios in the Chicagoland area for five years.
“It’s allowed me to be super in touch with what’s going on in the community and the kind of things that are happening,” Seputis said.
Seputis, who has a passion for radio, is currently a junior studying criminal justice, sociology and journalism at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
He has also worked as an independent journalist, documenting public safety incidents for online publications.
Seputis previously offered public comment opposing encryption at the NWCDS joint meeting in March.
In an interview with Lake and McHenry County Scanner, Seputis called the recent fire encryption by NWCDS “extremely concerning.”
“Police encryption is pretty widespread nowadays,” Seputis said. “The fact that Northwest Central decided to encrypt fire dispatch – that’s unprecedented – we really don’t see a lot of fire dispatch being encrypted across the country. It’s super rare.”
Seputis said the encryption raises concerns about government transparency.
“It makes it harder for the public to be aware of how their tax dollars and how their resources are being used,” he said.
“I have seen how news publications put together a story – I know how fundamental radios and scanners are to the news industry, and I don’t think the average person realizes that. I don’t think the average person realizes there are newsrooms across the country where there’s a person sitting listening to multiple radios,” he added.
Seputis expects decreased news coverage in the northwest suburbs due to NWCDS encrypting their fire talkgroups.
He also worries that the recent move will encourage other dispatch centers and municipalities in the region to encrypt their fire radio communications.
“It’s only a matter of time,” Seputis said.