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The Ultimate 2025 Guide To The Olympia WA Police Scanner: Frequencies, Encryption, And How To Listen

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The landscape of monitoring local law enforcement communications in Olympia, Washington, has undergone a significant transformation, especially as of late 2024 and early 2025. For years, hobbyists, journalists, and curious citizens relied on traditional analog scanners, but the entire Thurston County region—which includes the Olympia Police Department (OPD), Lacey PD, and Tumwater PD—is deep into a major migration to a state-of-the-art digital trunked radio system. This shift has critical implications for how the public can listen in, moving from simple frequency monitoring to needing sophisticated digital equipment or relying on online streams.

The key change is the rollout of the new TCern (Thurston County Emergency Radio Network), a cutting-edge P25 Phase 2 system. This transition impacts everyone from the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office to local fire and EMS agencies, requiring a complete overhaul of personal scanning gear for anyone wanting to listen directly to the airwaves. Understanding this new digital ecosystem is essential to staying informed about real-time public safety activity in the Capital City and surrounding areas.

The Shift to Digital: Understanding the TCern P25 Phase 2 System

The days of simple, single-frequency analog police radio are rapidly coming to an end in the Olympia area. The primary communications hub, T-COMM 911 (Thurston 911 Communications), has spearheaded the move to the TCern (Thurston County Emergency Radio Network). This upgrade is not just an incremental improvement; it is a fundamental change to a P25 (Project 25) Phase 2, 700 MHz trunked digital system.

What is P25 Phase 2 and Why Does it Matter?

  • Digital vs. Analog: Older scanners picked up simple analog signals. The new TCern system uses digital encoding, meaning an old analog scanner will only hear static or a digital "motorboat" sound.
  • Trunking Technology: Instead of using a single frequency for a single department, trunked systems pool a bank of frequencies. The system automatically assigns a voice channel when a unit transmits. This dramatically increases efficiency but requires a trunking scanner to follow the conversation across different frequencies.
  • Phase 2 TDMA: P25 Phase 2 uses Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), which allows two simultaneous conversations to occur on the same frequency slot. This technology is the current gold standard for public safety and is what makes a simple digital scanner obsolete. You need a P25 Phase 2 capable scanner to decode these signals.
  • 700 MHz Band: The new TCern system operates primarily in the 700 MHz frequency band, which is different from the older VHF and UHF frequencies.

This technical migration means that to listen to agencies like the Olympia Police Department, Lacey Police Department, Tumwater Police Department, and Thurston County Fire/EMS directly, you must own a specialized scanner.

How to Listen to Olympia Police and Thurston County Agencies in 2025

For most residents, the easiest and most cost-effective way to monitor local emergency traffic is through online streaming services. For the dedicated hobbyist, a significant hardware investment is required.

Option 1: The Easiest Way - Live Online Audio Feeds (Recommended)

Despite the complexity of the new digital system, dedicated volunteers and enthusiasts maintain live audio feeds that patch the digital radio traffic directly to the internet. These services are the most reliable way to listen to the Olympia Police scanner in real-time without buying expensive equipment. The feeds typically cover law enforcement, fire, and EMS for the entire county.

  • Broadcastify: This platform is the premier source for scanner feeds. Look for the "Thurston County Fire, EMS and Law Enforcement" feed, which includes Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, and Yelm.
  • YouTube Streams: Channels like "TCScanner" often provide a live, stereo stream of the Thurston County scanner traffic, which can be convenient for background listening on a computer or smart TV.
  • Mobile Apps: Apps like 5-0 Radio and others that pull from the Broadcastify network are available for both iOS and Android, allowing you to listen on the go.

Crucial Note on Delay: Online streams often have a delay of 30 seconds to several minutes, primarily due to audio buffering and legal requirements. If you are listening for immediate, real-time events on your street, this delay can be a factor.

Option 2: Direct Monitoring with a Digital Scanner

If you want the true, real-time experience without any internet delay, you will need a modern digital scanner capable of decoding the P25 Phase 2 signal. This is a significant investment, but it offers the most comprehensive access.

  • Required Scanner Types: Look for models specifically advertised as P25 Phase 2 compatible. Leading brands like Uniden (e.g., the SDS series) and Whistler (e.g., the TRX series) are the industry standard for monitoring this type of trunked system.
  • Programming: These scanners require detailed programming with the control channel frequencies for the TCern system. You can find up-to-date frequency and talkgroup information on specialized sites like RadioReference.
  • Key Frequencies (For Programming): While the system is trunked, you'll need the control channels for the Thurston County T-COMM 911 Trunked System. For traditional monitoring of the older system, the Olympia PD frequency was previously listed around 158.8575 MHz. However, the new 700 MHz trunked system is the primary target for modern scanning.

The Encryption Question: Is Olympia PD Going Dark?

One of the biggest concerns for scanner enthusiasts across Washington State is the growing trend of law enforcement agencies encrypting their radio traffic. Encryption scrambles the signal, making it impossible for the public to listen, even with a P25 Phase 2 scanner. For instance, neighboring Snohomish County has already moved to encrypt some law enforcement communications.

As of the most recent updates in 2025, the live, public feeds for the Thurston County (including Olympia PD) scanner traffic are generally still operational, suggesting that the primary dispatch channels are currently being broadcast in the clear (unencrypted).

Understanding the Future of TCern Encryption

  • P25 Capability: The new TCern P25 Phase 2 system is fully capable of supporting end-to-end encryption for all voice traffic.
  • The "TAC" Channel Trend: Many agencies across the country, when adopting P25, choose to keep their main Dispatch channels unencrypted for transparency and inter-agency communication, but they encrypt their Tactical (TAC) channels. TAC channels are used for sensitive, on-the-ground operations and are the most likely to be encrypted first by the Olympia Police Department and Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.
  • Public Access vs. Officer Safety: The debate over encryption is a constant battle between the public's right to know and the need for officer safety and the protection of sensitive investigation details. For now, the public still has access to the main dispatch calls, but this status is subject to change at any time as the TCern rollout completes.

Decoding the Traffic: Common Thurston County Scanner Codes

Listening to the scanner is only half the battle; understanding the rapid-fire terminology is the other. Thurston County law enforcement and fire/EMS use a mix of plain language, 10-codes, and local clearance codes. Familiarizing yourself with these terms will drastically improve your listening experience.

Key Entities and Local Agencies to Monitor

  • OPD: Olympia Police Department
  • LPD: Lacey Police Department
  • TPD: Tumwater Police Department
  • TCSO: Thurston County Sheriff's Office
  • WSP: Washington State Patrol (monitors a separate system, sometimes patched in)
  • T-COMM 911: The central dispatch for all county agencies.

Essential Scanner Terminology (Common 10-Codes and Signals)

While many departments are moving to plain language, a few codes are still frequently heard:

  • Code 4: Situation is under control (often heard after an incident).
  • 10-4: Acknowledged/OK.
  • 10-20: Location (e.g., "What is your 10-20?").
  • Signal 6: Burglary (often used by local police).
  • Signal 7: Dead body/Coroner's Case (often used by local police).
  • Clearance Codes: These are used when an officer clears a call (e.g., "Code 10" for a suspect arrested, or "Code 7" for no police action needed).

For a comprehensive list of specific call logs and radio terms used by Thurston County agencies, check dedicated local scanner information sites.

The Ultimate 2025 Guide to the Olympia WA Police Scanner: Frequencies, Encryption, and How to Listen
olympia wa police scanner
olympia wa police scanner

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