DuPage County Police Radio Dark: Chicago Suburb Scanners Silent

Police dispatch for a large swath of Chicago’s western suburbs has gone dark on scanners, according to scanner-community sources tracking the county’s StarCom21 talkgroups. DU-COMM (DuPage Public Safety Communications) and ACDC are reported to have moved all police channels to full-time encryption, with an OpenMHz scanner-feed banner for the county warning: “It is no longer possible to monitor any law enforcement dispatch channels.” The same reporting notes that fire and EMS traffic remain in the clear.

What happened on DuPage County police channels

Scanner-community sources date the switch to on or around July 7, 2026. The OpenMHz feed for DuPage County’s StarCom21 talkgroups now carries the notice that no law enforcement dispatch channels can be monitored. Only DU-COMM “Local” channels and fire dispatch remain unencrypted, with individual fire-department event channels still monitorable.

Because this reporting comes from scanner-community feeds rather than a mainstream local-news account, the exact effective date should be treated as a scanner-reported detail. The substance — countywide police dispatch no longer audible on open scanners — is consistent across the community sources.

Which agencies and towns are affected

DU-COMM serves on the order of 30 police, fire and EMS agencies across DuPage County. That means scanner listeners in Naperville, Downers Grove, Wheaton, Lombard and a couple dozen other western-suburban communities have lost real-time police dispatch, even as fire and EMS traffic continues to broadcast.

The RadioReference encryption record

The RadioReference Encrypted Agencies wiki lists DuPage County Police, countywide police, MERIT and tactical talkgroups as P25 AES-256 encrypted — the strongest form of encryption on the P25 digital system. AES-256 cannot be decoded by any consumer scanner, so once a talkgroup is encrypted, standard listening hardware is permanently locked out.

Chiefs were on board well before the switch

The move was not a surprise inside the local public-safety community. A March 2026 RadioReference discussion reported that roughly 99% of DuPage police chiefs polled supported StarCom21 encryption — an early signal that open dispatch was on borrowed time in the county.

What DuPage listeners can still hear

Losing police dispatch does not mean silence. DU-COMM fire dispatch remains in the clear, and individual fire-department event channels are still monitorable, giving listeners live incident alerts on fires and EMS calls across the same geography. For counties that have not yet migrated — and for the fire and EMS traffic still openly broadcast here — a pre-programmed scanner remains the practical way to keep listening.

FAQ

Why can’t I hear DuPage County police on my scanner?

Scanner-community sources report that DU-COMM and ACDC moved all police dispatch channels to full-time P25 AES-256 encryption, which no consumer scanner can decode.

When did DuPage County police dispatch go dark?

Scanner-community reporting dates the switch to on or around July 7, 2026. No mainstream local-news account of the exact date has been found, so treat it as a scanner-reported detail.

Can I still hear fire and EMS in DuPage County?

Yes. DU-COMM fire dispatch remains in the clear, and individual fire-department event channels are still monitorable.

Which towns are affected?

Listeners in Naperville, Downers Grove, Wheaton, Lombard and roughly two dozen other DuPage County communities served by DU-COMM have lost open police dispatch.

What is AES-256 encryption?

It is the strongest encryption used on P25 digital radio systems. Once a talkgroup is AES-256 encrypted, it cannot be decoded by any consumer scanner.

Bottom line: DuPage County’s police dispatch is now AES-256 encrypted across Chicago’s western suburbs, per scanner-community feeds, but fire and EMS dispatch remain in the clear. For the traffic that is still openly broadcast in your area, a pre-programmed police scanner is the fastest way to start listening.