12 December 2024, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman – “All day long, there was trouble,” says an officer with the El Paso Police Department. “Radios were going in and out.”

We’ve all seen the news over the last few days about strange drones flying over New Jersey, China, accessing individuals’ text messages, and more. Now, we can add El Paso, Texas, and the Police Department to the list of strange happenings.

The El Paso Police Department was not having issues with faulty radios and broadcast equipment. According to an email provided to us by several officers, the police radios were being jammed.

What follows is the email that was sent to officers within the El Paso, Texas, Police Department:

UERCC/NERCC Radio Interference

Today, 12/11/24, at approximately 1241 hours, UERCC started experiencing radio interference. This is the longest episode of radio interference the department has experienced. It is typically sporadic and runs a few minutes. Comms sups made notification and we started trouble shooting the issue. The following plan will be put in place beginning now until tomorrow morning.

1 Roll call will be conducted every 30 minutes for the next 3 hours, for UERCC and NERCC. We will continue past that time only if needed.

2 Anyone with an apex has been advised to remove their antenna, which will force their radio to jump on LTE making them operational, and leave the antenna off until interference has subsided.

3 Comms will be delivering 10 Apex Next radios to UERCC and 10 Apex NERCC. We are requesting any full crew that does not have an Apex Next check one out with the desk officer should they continue to experience interference. NERCC has reported sporadic interference but not on the level UERCC is reporting. We are being proactive with NERCC.

Luis Mejia with Motorola was advised and reported radio interference because of the jammers. Frank Mendez was notified – he notified Agent Sanchez with FCC.

Currently, the removal of the antennas on Apex Next has improved radios [sic] communications.

I will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates through the evening.

Both officers and citizens depend on emergency communication systems to work. When an officer’s radio goes out or is jammed, calls cannot be answered, putting lives at grave risk of harm.

“The email we were sent was a good starting place,” says another officer with the El Paso Police Department. “This outage shows that just maybe we need to start replacing radios. Something that may not be blocked using jammers.”

Jammers is a key takeaway from the email sent to officers department-wide, and it raises questions about who may have been jamming the signals, why they were being jammed, and what the City of El Paso and the El Paso Police Department are doing to track down the source.

We did share these questions with the El Paso Police Department and the Federal Communications Commission. At the time of publication, we had yet to receive an answer.

How can first responders get around jammed frequencies?

“One answer,” says Robert Chandler, a communications expert, “is to apply high transmission power on channels being jammed. Higher power makes jamming less of a threat, thus ensuring communication for all first responders.”

According to the Federal Communications Commission, “Signal jamming devices can prevent you and others from making 9-1-1 and other emergency calls and pose serious risks to public safety communications, as well as interfere with other forms of day-to-day communications.”

“We need people to understand that jamming emergency communication, such as first responders, is against the law,” said a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent. “The FCC Enforcement Bureau, along with the help of other federal agencies, will work diligently to track down offenders and bring them to justice.”

The agent we spoke with could neither confirm nor deny that an investigation was underway in El Paso, Texas, with the stated aim of tracking down the person responsible for jamming police frequencies.

In March of 2024 the FCC reported that Amazon was among several companies under investigation for allegedly selling devices that jam radio frequencies, including ones used to block drone signals or thwart home security devices.

“We have several ongoing investigations into retailers, including Amazon, for potential violations of Commission rules related to the marketing and sale of equipment without proper FCC authorization,” said Will Wiquist, spokesperson for the FCC.

Searching Google for “radio frequency jammer for sale” revealed a large number of companies willing to sell jammers in contravention of federal law.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, there no exception to non-Federal law enforement agencies, or individuals to possess or use a jamming device.

The use of a phone jammer, GPS blocker, or other signal jamming device designed to intentionally block, jam, or interfere with authorized radio communications is a violation of federal law. There are no exemptions for use within a business, classroom, residence, or vehicle. Local law enforcement agencies do not have independent authority to use jamming equipment; in certain limited exceptions use by Federal law enforcement agencies is authorized in accordance with applicable statutes.”

Jammers, such as radio frequency jammers, are a growing problem,” says Robert Chandler. These devices risk our personal and national security. The FCC needs to do more to block the sale of these devices.”Jamming police radio frequencies is a federal crime in the United States. It can result in significant fines and potential prison time. The maximum penalty varies depending on the specific circumstances and jurisdiction, but generally, it is up to ten years imprisonment.

“Something was happening with radios yesterday,” says an officer with the El Paso Police Department. “Some kid or some bad actor may have bought an RF signal jammer online and thought this was fun. What they did could have resulted in the loss of life. I hope they are caught soon.”