Police Endorse Garage-Door Opener Waiver
A request by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. for an FCC waiver for a “garage door overmaster” that police could use to enter barricaded homes has wide support from police departments. Intended for use under warrant or in “exigent circumstances,” overmasters emulate the operation of a resident’s remote control. Door-opener makers are questioning the need and basis for the waiver request. The overmaster is in prototype, with commercial manufacture on hold until the Commission clears up its status.
For the overmaster to work as police envision, it needs an exception to an FCC interference rule requiring a garage opener transmitter to shut off automatically within 5 sec. after the user pushes the button controlling it. An overmaster has to stay on as long as it takes to cycle through codes until it hits the one that opens a particular door.
“It will make entry safer for the officers involved and for any third parties, especially in cases where a suspect is barricaded indoors,” the L.A. sheriff’s office said. Apart from the 5-sec. rule, the “device will comply with every other aspect of the rules, including frequency usage, power limits, and bandwidth,” the agency said: “In addition, the Department proposed stringent limitations on marketing and use to minimize any risk of harmful interference to other users.”
Police usually enter barricaded homes through doors or windows -- a predictable tactic that suspects often are ready to repel, said a Md. State Police filing: “An ability to enter through a garage is particularly appealing because they are almost never fortified, and even opening the door requires a barricaded suspect to consider the potential for entry.”
Use of overmasters would cut risks of harm to police, hostages, suspects and bystanders, said the Criminal Justice Training Center: “Given the severity of the situations in which it would be beneficial, the use of such a device would be infrequent, especially because other methods have proven successful under less hazardous situations.”
Resistance to the overmaster comes mainly from makers of garage-door systems, represented by the Safe & Secure Access Coalition, which want firmer data on the device, its functions and its justification. The L.A. sheriff hasn’t offered answers to critical questions, the coalition said. “There is no technical or engineering data submitted with the waiver request, and there is only a minimal description of the device itself,” it said. “There is no discussion as to how the transmissions from the device will be contained so as not to activate other radio-controlled door entry systems in the vicinity.”
“The device, if technically feasible, could cause serious safety and security problems, as well as undermine public confidence in secure access systems,” the manufacturers’ coalition said.