What changed

Barrington’s familiar scanner chatter fell silent Oct. 15 when the Northwest Central Dispatch System encrypted its primary fire dispatch channels, cutting off the public’s live access to routine fire calls across the region. The move affects Barrington Police & Fire and the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District, among 13 fire departments served by the consolidated dispatch center in Arlington Heights, according to Lake and McHenry County Scanner.

At around 8 a.m. that day, three talkgroups — FD-1, FD-2 and FD-3 — were permanently encrypted, blocking listening via digital scanners and popular streaming apps. Those talkgroups carry day-to-day dispatch traffic on Illinois’ STARCOM21 public safety radio network by Motorola Solutions, Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported. NWCDS’s fireground talkgroups — used by crews at incident scenes — remain unencrypted. However, not all departments use fireground channels, and those that do typically use them only on certain calls, Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported.

NWCDS did not post public notice of the change on its website or social media. The agency answers an average of 1,677 phone calls daily and dispatches about 246,000 calls for service annually, according to its website, as cited by Lake and McHenry County Scanner. The dispatch center serves first responders in 14 communities, including Barrington Police & Fire and the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District, which covers roughly 48 square miles — more than any other NWCDS fire agency, Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported.

Key details, per Lake and McHenry County Scanner:

  • FD-1, FD-2 and FD-3 fire dispatch talkgroups are now encrypted on STARCOM21.
  • Fireground talkgroups remain unencrypted but are not universally used.
  • Thirteen fire departments covering more than 500,000 residents across nearly 200 square miles are affected.

Why officials say it was necessary

The encryption decision followed months of internal discussion at NWCDS. Minutes of a January 2025 executive committee meeting noted “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,” according to NWCDS meeting minutes provided to Lake and McHenry County Scanner.

NWCDS Executive Director John Ferraro said the change was driven by safety and privacy needs. “The talk groups were encrypted for scene safety – for the safety of the citizens and the responders and for patient confidentiality,” Ferraro told Lake and McHenry County Scanner. Asked about patient information occasionally relayed over unencrypted fireground channels, Ferraro said “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.” Ferraro had no comment when asked about transparency concerns, Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported.

Industry voices have echoed those rationales. 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.” She added: “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.”

How Barrington leaders voted

The NWCDS executive committee first raised the topic in March 2024. In November, it formed a subcommittee of police and fire leaders and NWCDS personnel to weigh the pros and cons, according to meeting minutes cited by Lake and McHenry County Scanner. The subcommittee met three times in January and February 2025 and voted 4-3 to recommend encryption. The police liaison committee voted 5-1 in favor.

On March 20, both the NWCDS Joint Board of Directors and the executive committee approved encryption for fire dispatch. The board vote was unanimous; the executive committee vote was 23-2, according to Lake and McHenry County Scanner. Barrington Police Chief David Daigle and Barrington Fire Chief John Christian voted “aye.” Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District Chief Scott Motisi voted “nay,” along with Inverness Fire Protection District Chief Richard Kurka, Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported.

Kurka told Lake and McHenry County Scanner his opposition was largely financial. “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,” he said. He added that fire protection districts shoulder costs differently than municipal departments: “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 Inverness had to purchase its own radios for the shift, while municipal agencies used NWCDS funds. NWCDS meeting minutes estimated “updating fire radios within NWCDS fire stations is a relatively low-cost investment, estimated at approximately $500 per unit,” Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported. Motisi declined to elaborate on his vote, deferring to Ferraro, and said Kurka’s comments “are his and his alone and do not reflect mine or BCFPD’s organizational opinions regarding this topic in any way shape or form,” according to Lake and McHenry County Scanner.

Local reaction

The change has stirred concern among residents who use scanners to track emergencies and among journalists who rely on them for timely reporting. TJ Seputis, a 21-year-old licensed amateur radio operator from Arlington Heights who has monitored local radios for five years, called the fire encryption “extremely concerning.” “Police encryption is pretty widespread nowadays,” he 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 county. It’s super rare.”

Seputis said the loss of access undermines accountability. “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 worries the decision will spread: “It’s only a matter of time,” Seputis said. His comments were reported by Lake and McHenry County Scanner.

The legislative backdrop

The debate arrives as Illinois lawmakers wrestle with how to preserve access in an encrypted era. Illinois House Bill 4339, introduced in January 2024 by Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, sought to amend the Local Records Act to require agencies that encrypt police transmissions to provide real-time access for broadcast stations and newspapers. The bill did not advance and the session ended without action, according to LegiScan.

Ford criticized the NWCDS approach in comments to Lake and McHenry County Scanner. “They [NWCDS] are not a model,” he said. “Previously, our local law enforcement opposed it [the bill] because they controlled the policing. Now, this is a whole new policing – it’s federalized – and I think it would be in the local police’s best interest to also support this at this time and collaborate with the press for their safety, as well as the community’s,” Ford said. “The ultimate goal is to make sure the public and the press know what’s happening in real-time,” he added.

What comes next for Barrington

NWCDS encrypted police radio traffic back in 2011, and police encryption is now common across parts of the region, Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported. Fire encryption remains far rarer, though more agencies are adopting it; Waukegan moved to encryption in February 2025, while Naperville and Joliet are encrypted with some exceptions, according to Lake and McHenry County Scanner. In Chicago, most police channels are encrypted, but the city partners with Broadcastify to provide encrypted audio on a 30-minute delay, Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported.

NWCDS meeting minutes noted potential interoperability challenges and identified solutions such as a mobile app to allow non-NWCDS mutual-aid partners to listen and transmit, though it remains unknown if any such tool is in use, Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported. For Barrington-area residents, the immediate reality is that routine fire dispatch traffic is no longer audible. Whether NWCDS or its member agencies adopt delayed feeds, enhanced public summaries, or press-access options — or whether lawmakers revisit access requirements — will shape how much the community can hear the next time fire engines roll down Route 59 or Lake-Cook Road.