Horry County Police Encryption: Myrtle Beach Scanners Go Dark

Horry County police encryption has silenced scanner traffic across the Grand Strand: law-enforcement radio channels were fully encrypted in the last week of March 2026, and by April 1 scanner listeners reported dramatically less traffic as the county’s channels disappeared from mobile apps and websites. WBTW first reported the change on April 1, 2026. The switch permanently darkened one of the East Coast’s busiest tourist-market police feeds, covering the Myrtle Beach area.

No Council Vote: How the Grand Strand Went Dark

County leaders directed the Public Safety Department to make the change without a formal ordinance or resolution. Horry County Councilman Dennis DiSabato acknowledged the unusual process:

“There wasn’t any formal council action taken by ordinance or resolution… but we did direct the Public Safety Department to do it.”

— Horry County Councilman Dennis DiSabato

Officer Safety: The Rationale Behind the Switch

County public information officer Thomas Bell said the change “really boils down to officer safety,” calling it a preventive move tied to national incidents of suspects tracking officers via scanner traffic — not one local event, as WMBF reported on April 6, 2026. Only dispatchers and officers can now hear the transmissions.

Palmetto 800: Myrtle Beach and Horry County Now Share the Same Silence

Myrtle Beach PD made the same change several years earlier, and Horry County now joins it on the Palmetto 800 statewide radio system. Once a jurisdiction on that system encrypts its law-enforcement talkgroups, consumer scanners cannot decode the traffic — which is why the feeds vanished from apps and websites almost overnight.

Even a Former FBI Agent Warns About the Transparency Cost

Former FBI supervisory special agent James Furry acknowledged the downside of Horry County’s move in an interview with WBTW:

“Every little thing that you hide makes the public less… likely to cooperate.”

— James Furry, former FBI supervisory special agent, to WBTW

What This Means for Listeners in South Carolina

If your county’s dispatch is still in the clear, a scanner still pays for itself — and a pre-programmed Baofeng UV-5R Mini police scanner ships with your local frequencies already loaded. For a rundown of which channels tend to stay open across the country, see our guide to what you can still hear in 2026.

FAQ

When did Horry County police radios go dark?

Law-enforcement channels were fully encrypted in the last week of March 2026, and by April 1 listeners reported the feeds disappearing from apps and websites.

Did the county council vote on the encryption?

No. County leaders directed the Public Safety Department to make the change without a formal ordinance or resolution, according to Councilman Dennis DiSabato.

Why did Horry County encrypt its radios?

County officials cited officer safety, calling it a preventive move tied to national incidents of suspects tracking officers via scanner traffic.

Can I still hear Myrtle Beach police on a scanner?

No. Only dispatchers and officers can hear the encrypted law-enforcement transmissions on the Palmetto 800 system.

What is Palmetto 800?

Palmetto 800 is South Carolina’s statewide public-safety radio system. Myrtle Beach PD encrypted several years earlier, and Horry County has now joined it.

Is there any way to get the audio back?

Not while the talkgroups stay encrypted. Scanner listeners and journalists are left with whatever agencies choose to release after the fact.

Bottom line: Horry County’s full encryption turned off one of the East Coast’s busiest tourist-market scanner feeds with no council vote — a striking example of how quickly the encryption wave is reaching big visitor destinations, and how little the public gets to weigh in when it does.