McLean residents who monitored police activity through scanners or online streaming services lost access to those feeds on Monday, July 13, when the Fairfax County Police Department encrypted all eight of its main dispatch channels.

The channels loosely correspond to FCPD's district stations, including the McLean District Station. Once encrypted, the feeds can only be heard by individuals with police-issued radios or a cryptographic key. Online services such as OpenMHz, which previously streamed the channels publicly, no longer carry them.

FCPD confirmed the change to FFXnow, saying its channels went encrypted "at the same time as Fairfax City." The City of Fairfax Police Department announced its own encryption on Friday, July 10, with the same Monday effective date.

Why the department made the move

FCPD leaders briefed the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in March 2026 on plans to encrypt the main channels. According to FFXnow's account of the briefing, officers said the change would limit exposure of personal information and help manage critical incidents in real time, adding that encryption would prevent "someone's worst day from being used for entertainment."

The City of Fairfax Police Department said in a press release that encryption protects sensitive information routinely communicated by radio, including names, home addresses, dates of birth and medical details involving victims.

Some specialized FCPD channels used for high-priority incidents and informal coordination were already encrypted before Monday.

What critics say

Larry Calhoun, an independent public safety reporter who covers the region under the name News From the Concrete, pushed back on the decision.

"I do believe that encryption absolutely hurts transparency from the police agencies to the public," Calhoun told FFXnow. He argued that if officer safety is the concern, departments could delay dispatches rather than seal them entirely, allowing the public and media to still hear calls after the fact.

What remains publicly accessible

Not everything went dark. An automated dispatch system that sends preliminary information based on 911 calls and response requests remains unaffected. Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department frequencies also remain unencrypted. A department spokesperson said Fire and Rescue does not have any plans to encrypt its primary radio channels.

A regional trend

Fairfax County joins a growing list of agencies that have fully or partially encrypted their radio traffic, including Arlington County Police, Prince William County Police, Virginia State Police, and D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department. Loudoun County began encrypting on July 13 as well and, according to FFXnow, expects to complete full encryption this fall.