CHICAGO — Police will do what they can to keep unauthorized voices off their radio channels, officials said Wednesday, but modern technology might render the problem unavoidable.
Earlier this month, a man's voice was heard on a police radio frequency saying "typical f------ n-------" and "Black Lives Matter my ass."
Then on Sunday night, someone got on a police radio frequency and said "Will you shoot all these goddamn n------ and get it over with?"
A review of the slurs, Office of Emergency Management and Communication officials said, traced them back to an "unauthorized user" speaking into a "city-programmed radio."
Police officials said in a Wednesday press conference that there was little they could do to keep outsiders off their channels, but that they'd take more steps to flag them.
"Unfortunately that equipment is available out there for people to purchase, so until we get a handle on that, these incidents could occur," Bureau of Patrol Chief Eddie Johnson said. "We need to stress to our people to use proper radio procedure and proper equipment so we can narrow those incidents down."
The wide availability of the radios makes them "hard to track down," Johnson added.
In a statement released Monday, police said that "the racial comments are abhorrent and absolutely unacceptable."
"We have confirmed these are coming from external, unauthorized radios accessing emergency frequencies," police said in the statement. "At this time, there is no evidence that this individual is a city employee, however, [police and the Office of Emergency Management] continue to investigate."
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