Sumner Incident Alerts is a volunteer-run, community-driven platform dedicated to keeping every resident of Sumner County informed—empowering neighbors, journalists, and mutual-aid partners with real-time updates on emergencies and public-safety activities.

Sumner County law-enforcement agencies are already in the process of swapping their entire public-safety radio system to full encryption. While protecting truly sensitive communications is important, routine dispatch channels have traditionally remained unencrypted—and for good reason:

Transparency & Trust
Open radio traffic lets citizens, volunteer groups, and local journalists monitor incidents in real time, fostering confidence in our first responders.
Public Safety & Coordination
Neighbors, mutual-aid departments, and media outlets rely on live feeds to stay aware of unfolding emergencies and respond quickly.
Existing Protections
Agencies already use encrypted secondary and administrative channels for confidential traffic. Encrypting every routine dispatch frequency is overkill—and cuts the public out of vital information.
We ask Sumner County leadership to:

Maintain at least one unencrypted “routine” channel for immediate community awareness
If security concerns persist, offer a delayed public feed (e.g., 30-minute lag)—and if providing an official feed is not feasible, partner with our volunteer team at Sumner Incident Alerts (at no cost to the county) to deliver delayed feeds to the community
Involve concerned citizens in reviewing any proposed changes before they take effect
Sign this petition to ensure our county balances operational security with the transparency our community deserves.