Montgomery Police Radio Encryption: Alabama Scanners Go Dark

Montgomery police radio is encrypted as of September 2026, and listeners in Alabama’s capital city can no longer hear the Montgomery Police Department (MPD) dispatch channel in real time. MPD moved from an open channel to encrypted communication, a change it announced in a statement first reported on Sept. 9, 2026, by the Montgomery Independent and 1819 News. The department confirmed the switch to the Montgomery Advertiser on Sept. 11, 2026.

Montgomery is the newest U.S. capital city to close its main dispatch channel to scanners. The move does not silence the whole metro: the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and two neighboring sheriff’s offices still transmit in the clear, which leaves central Alabama listeners with a patchwork rather than a blackout.

What Montgomery Police Confirmed

MPD spokesman Lt. Scott Dunn told the Montgomery Advertiser the change was made “in order to better protect the safety of residents, first responders, and ongoing investigations,” and added that “encrypted channels help safeguard operational security during critical incidents.”

“Encrypted channels help safeguard operational security during critical incidents.” — Lt. Scott Dunn, Montgomery Police Department

There is no phased timeline, no channel-by-channel carve-out, and no delayed public feed in the announcement. MPD dispatch audio that used to be monitorable on a scanner is now encrypted end to end.

What MPD Says It Will Still Publish

The department said it remains “fully committed to transparency” and will continue issuing media releases, holding press briefings, posting to social media, and answering public records requests. Its statement put it plainly: “This transition enhances safety without reducing the amount of information shared with the community.”

The gap is timing. A press release arrives after an incident is resolved. A live dispatch channel tells you what is happening while it happens, which is the reason many listeners own a scanner in the first place. Agencies that encrypt sometimes soften the loss with a live call dashboard or a media radio-access program; MPD’s announcement includes neither. Our earlier reporting on departments that keep live call dashboards after encrypting shows what that middle ground looks like.

The Montgomery Metro Is Now a Patchwork

Encryption stops at agency boundaries. Here is where the region stands after the MPD switch:

• Montgomery Police Department: encrypted.
• Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office: not encrypted. Sheriff Derrick Cunningham said there are no plans to change, because the office dispatches volunteer fire departments and encryption does not fit that job.
• Prattville Police Department: encrypted since 2019.
• Auburn and Opelika police: encrypted.
• Autauga County Sheriff’s Office: not encrypted, but the sheriff wants to be.
• Elmore County Sheriff’s Office: not encrypted.

Sheriff Cunningham framed the trade-off in operational terms rather than secrecy:

“We dispatch the volunteer fire departments… It’s just not a good method for us.” — Sheriff Derrick Cunningham, Montgomery County

In Autauga County, the barrier is budget, not policy. Sheriff Mark Harrell said he would encrypt immediately if the money existed, and that he is pursuing a grant to pay for it:

“I would go encrypted today if we had the money in the budget, which we don’t.” — Sheriff Mark Harrell, Autauga County

That quote matters for anyone deciding what to buy. Grant-funded encryption is how a long list of agencies went dark over the past two years, and Autauga County is now on that list as a live possibility rather than a rumor.

What Central Alabama Listeners Can Still Hear

If you monitor from Montgomery or the surrounding counties, the practical picture today is:

• MPD dispatch: gone from scanners.
• Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office: still in the clear, including its volunteer fire department dispatch.
• Elmore County Sheriff’s Office: still in the clear.
• Autauga County Sheriff’s Office: still in the clear for now, with a grant request pending.
• Prattville, Auburn, and Opelika police: encrypted, and have been for years.

For a county-by-county breakdown of what encryption does and does not block, start with our guide to what you can still hear on a police scanner in 2026. The short version: encrypted talkgroups stay silent, but unencrypted conventional and P25 channels in the same region keep working on any dual-band scanner.

Why the Timing Raised Questions

The switch was reported in the same week as a Labor Day weekend shooting in Montgomery in which ten people were shot and one died. No source links the encryption to that incident, and MPD has not cited it. Still, the sequence is familiar to transparency advocates: encryption announcements in 2026 have repeatedly landed close to high-profile incidents, and auditors in other jurisdictions have documented the cost. Our report on how encryption widens the accountability gap walks through how much slower the public record becomes when the live channel closes.

How to Keep Listening Around Montgomery

You cannot decrypt an encrypted channel, and no scanner on the market will do it. What you can do is cover everything around it. A pre-programmed dual-band scanner such as the Baofeng UV-5R Plus Police Scanner reaches the unencrypted sheriff, fire, and EMS traffic in Montgomery, Elmore, and Autauga counties, and it still covers everything else that opens up nearby. Load the county frequencies you actually want, test reception from where you listen, and keep the radio ready for the next agency that goes dark.

FAQ

Did Montgomery police encrypt their radios?

Yes. The Montgomery Police Department moved from a clear channel to encrypted communication, announced in a statement reported Sept. 9, 2026, and confirmed to the Montgomery Advertiser on Sept. 11, 2026.

Can I still listen to Montgomery police dispatch on a scanner?

No. MPD dispatch audio is encrypted, and consumer scanners cannot decode it. Other agencies in the metro, including the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, still transmit in the clear.

Is the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office encrypted?

No. Sheriff Derrick Cunningham said the office has no plans to encrypt, citing its role dispatching volunteer fire departments.

Which nearby agencies are still open to scanners?

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office are not encrypted. The Autauga County Sheriff’s Office is not encrypted, but Sheriff Mark Harrell is seeking grant funding to change that. Prattville, Auburn, and Opelika police are already encrypted.

Does encryption mean the public gets no information at all?

No. MPD says it will keep issuing media releases, press briefings, social media updates, and public records. What disappears is real-time dispatch audio, not the paper trail.

Will a different scanner let me hear encrypted traffic?

No. Encryption is applied at the transmitter, so no consumer scanner can decode it. A scanner still pays for itself by covering the unencrypted sheriff, fire, and EMS channels around you.

Bottom line: Montgomery police radio went encrypted in September 2026, and Alabama’s capital dispatch channel is closed to scanners. The metro is not dark, though: the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Elmore County, and (for now) Autauga County still transmit in the clear. Buy for the channels that are still open, and watch Autauga County’s grant request as the next one to close.