“Oh, I’m very serious about getting the scanners back to the way we’ve had them for decades.”

Republican mayoral candidate Brian Leggero won Tuesday’s primary.

His campaign to decrypt police scanners may be the reason why.

“That’s my main stance,” said Leggero. “Getting the public channel turned back on. And that’s what we would do. That would be the first order of business. Turning the scanners back on.”

Leggero believes it will aid in reducing crime in our city.

“Well, the most major issue as everyone is aware of facing our city is the high crime,” said Leggero. “You know, we have to address that, we have to be more proactive and get our citizens to be more involved and be extra vigilant.”

“The more people are involved the more of a chance you might have as a police officer cruising the street with the solving of crimes.”

Libertarian candidate Ronnie Manns agrees with Leggero- but two other candidates do not.

“The last thing you need is I think a whole bunch of people saying and confusing things, of calling in and saying ‘Hey this is happening, this is happening, because I heard it on the radio, or on my scanner,” said Independent mayoral candidate Rudy Valdez. “So I think it’s a slippery slope.”

Rudy Valdez supports the police chief’s decision to keep the scanners encrypted.

“It’s officer safety, you don’t have to worry about identity theft, and then the third one is you’re not tipping off the bad guys,” said Valdez.

“I support Chief O’ Shea,” said Democratic mayoral candidate Tom McNamara. “I think this is an issue that is about officer safety and public safety.”

Both Valdez and McNamara think this shouldn’t really be an issue.

They both say it’s up to the chief of police to decide whether the scanners stay encrypted or not.

“As a cornerstone for your campaign to fight for something that’s not even possible is ridiculous,” said McNamara.

Chief decision or not, Leggero’s nomination will inject the police radio issue into the mayoral race.