Hochul Vetoes Bill to Keep Police Radios Unencrypted; Press Cries Foul!

Of the 140 bills New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who is running for re-election in 2026, vetoed on Friday, Dec. 19, one bill directly affects the media world. Hochul vetoed the Keep Police Radio Public Act, a measure that would have become law and granted credentialed journalists access to encrypted police radios statewide.

The ability to listen to police radios in real time—to hear reports of shootings, robberies, assaults, and other criminal activities—allows journalists to rush to crime scenes and speak with eyewitnesses and victims immediately.

Nassau County has already gone dark, cutting off media access to police radios entirely, while the New York Police Department has encrypted most of its channels as part of a nationwide crackdown that critics say shuts out the press and stifles transparency, and proponents say protects police officers.

But while reporters can often obtain vital information in the days that follow, photographers cannot. A dead body or a totaled car will not still be at the scene hours later or the next day.

“Press photographers have always leaned on police scanners—going all the way back to the era of Weegee—to stay on top of breaking news,” one news photographer, who asked to remain anonymous, told Straus News on Friday. He was referring to Arthur “Weegee” Fellig, the famed photojournalist whose stark black-and-white images captured New York City in the 1930s and ’40s.

“But now, as scanner channels have gone silent in parts of Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens, photographers are being left essentially in the dark,” the photographer said. “By shutting down these scanner feeds, the police are making it harder for us to know what’s happening in real time, and we’re going in blind trying to tell the stories of the city.”

The bill to keep the police channels open, passed in June by both the Assembly (A.3516) and the state Senate (S.416), was sponsored by Senator Mike Gianaris of Queens and Assembly Member Karines Reyes of the Bronx. It was backed by the Deadline Club, the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and other press groups operating jointly as the New York Media Consortium.

“Keeping police channels open to journalists benefits public safety,” the Deadline Club wrote in a statement following Hochul’s veto, “consortium members told Hochul in a letter last month, by enabling news organizations to quickly alert readers, viewers, and listeners to dangers that erupt in their neighborhoods.”

The governor explained her decision to veto the bill in her own statement. As reported by amNY , she said the bill “while a worthy goal for transparency, may not be technologically feasible.” She cited concerns about screening “sensitive information,” warning that indiscriminate broadcasts could lead to loss of life or operational failures.

One of the key arguments defending the encryption has been that access to information, such as addresses of the crime scenes, could get into the hands of potential criminals who could harm police officers or the public.

The governor raised concerns about “growing threats of extremist violence,” the risk of exposing “undercover operations,” and “confidential sources.” But, as amNY pointed out, she failed to acknowledge that “most sensitive communications are only being transmitted via department-issued cellphones.”

“Governor Hochul’s justifications for vetoing this bill read like they were crafted by law enforcement lobbyists,” said Deadline Club President David A. Andelman. “It’s regrettable that she chose to put politics over public safety and the public’s right to know.”

The Deadline Club noted that the bill explicitly barred disclosure of confidential investigative information and the identities of confidential sources.

Bruce Cotler, president of the New York Press Photographers Association, told AmNY that press advocates are considering reintroducing a revised proposal. “There are options that could still maintain some transparency while preserving privacy and safety for officers,” he said.

The photographer interviewed by Straus News worried that if all police radios were encrypted, he would “probably be out of a job.” While he can still monitor FDNY and EMS radios, he said those channels provide far less information. “You don’t want to go in blind as a photographer,” he said.

But he expressed hope that the City Council might step in. On Thursday, Dec. 18, one day before Hochul’s veto, the Council passed its own, and more detailed, bill requiring the NYPD to keep its citywide “critical incidents” channel unencrypted and grant credentialed reporters access to encrypted police radios, with limited exceptions. The measure passed by a wide margin, 41-07. But access won’t come cheap. News outlets would have to spend thousands of dollars on the specialized receivers.

Consortium members previously proposed a low-cost, internet-based alternative for press access, which the NYPD declined to use.

The City Council bill now awaits signing by Mayor Eric Adams and could take up to a year to implement. If vetoed, the Council could attempt an override or forward it to the incoming mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

“While transparency is laudable, it should not come at the expense of public safety,” Hochul said. “Municipalities remain free to make their own decisions regarding police radio encryption.”

Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told amNY that even though the governor’s veto was a “setback,” the passed bill in City Council “demonstrates that transparency and public safety are not mutually exclusive. . . . That veto makes clear that any future state legislation may need to take a more incremental approach.”