A bill has been introduced to form a model policy with guidance from the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, regarding the use of encryption in Virginia Law Enforcement. It is hoped that this cooperation can possibly lead to policy changes in the future in alignment with our petition's intent. Please let your local rep that you support this bill as its a stepping stone towards possibly one day returning routine communications to the public and press. 

House Bill : 2039
https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/HB2039

Statement from one of our Petition supporters, Dave Statter.

"𝐀𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲  – 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 – 𝐈'𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐥. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐰-𝐞𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚. 

𝐈 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐒𝐏 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜. 𝐈𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞. 

𝐃𝐞𝐥. 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧'𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 (𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧). 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐞𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 

𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐕𝐒𝐏 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞. 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧. 𝐕𝐒𝐏 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 

𝐒𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭. 𝐌𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭." -Dave Statter, Owner of STATter911 Communications, LLC