A resolution urging the city administration to restore public access to police, fire and emergency services radio traffic was introduced Tuesday by Honolulu Council Chair Tommy Waters.

The public and media organizations lost the ability to monitor the radio communications of the taxpayer-funded first responders Feb. 15 when the final phase of a $15 million conversion from an analog system to a P25 Motorola digital system wrapped up.

“Historically, such dispatch radio communications were on open and unencrypted channels that could be accessed by the media and the public,” the resolution reads in part. “The media have relied on their ability to monitor radio communications to disseminate emergency-related information to the general public, and a segment of the public has monitored dispatch radio communications as a means of keeping abreast of events occurring within the community.”

In addition to Waters, Council members Augie Tulba and Carol Fukunaga have said they support public access to P25 radio traffic.

“I introduced this resolution to promote accountability and transparency,” Waters told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement. “An informed press is a strong press, and an informed community is a strong community.”

Tulba told the Star-Advertiser that access to first responder radio transmissions “is vital to government transparency.”

“This is also a safety issue, as the media provides timely information to the public about hazards and emergency situations, such as natural disasters, fires, accidents, road closures, hostage situations and crimes in progress,” he said. “Without access to the radio transmissions, this will be made all the more difficult, and the public’s right to know will be negatively impacted.”

The decision to upgrade the communication system and encrypt real-time radio traffic was made during former Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration.

Mayor Rick Blangiardi has expressed interest in a contractual agreement with media outlets that would restore access to the communications. The city’s corporation counsel is reviewing a 2018 agreement between the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Las Vegas media outlets addressing the same issues and other policies at Blangiardi’s request.

Prior to his election, Blangiardi spent 43 years in the television news industry.

The 2018 Las Vegas agreement allows news agencies to pay for their own Moto­rola P25 radios, which cost as much as $10,000 each. Media organizations agreed not to alter the equipment or use them in any way other than to monitor the channels approved and programmed by police.