FCC Proposes $400,000 Jammer Fine
/The FCC has proposed a fine of more than $400,000 on a Queens, New York, man who has admitted making unauthorised transmissions on New York City Police Department (NYPD) radio frequencies, maliciously interfering with NYPD officers’ communications
Peralta, 20, is alleged to have transmitted false bomb threats, false claims of criminal activities involving firearms, false distress calls from purported NYPD officers, and threats against individual NYPD officers. The unauthorised transmissions began a year ago, according to the FCC.
“Through his actions, as he described them to the NYPD, Mr. Peralta has demonstrated not only a deliberate disregard of the Commission’s authority and rules, but of the safety of NYPD officers and the public that they are called to serve and protect. Commission action in this context is, therefore, essential to safeguard authorised operations on spectrum licensed for public safety uses, and, accordingly, a substantial penalty appears warranted.”
The FCC said the NAL addresses nine unauthorised and interfering transmissions that Peralta has admitted to the NYPD that he made on its radio system. The FCC said Peralta’s unauthorised transmissions included false bomb threats, false claims of criminal activities involving firearms, false distress calls from purported NYPD officers, and threats against individual NYPD officers.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, said that with the NAL, the FCC is making it “abundantly clear that it will not tolerate unauthorized and illegal use of the radio spectrum.” The entire Commission now must sign off on such proposed fines, and Pai said he was grateful to his fellow FCC members for “agreeing to act swiftly and strongly” in the matter. “This may not be a typical pirate radio case in which an unauthorized operator inflicts damage on a radio broadcaster that is operating with a valid FCC license,” Pai said, “but it does involve unauthorized interference to critical public safety communications systems.”
ARRL story - http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-proposes-levying-huge-fine-on-new-york-police-radio-jammer
