Recorded "for [my] protection"

I got a spam call from a Southern Calfiornia (maybe it was LA county?) police and sheriff's organization. I extricated myself from the call before they officially asked me for money (which is what was coming very shortly), but they had a somewhat disturbing twist on a line one often hears in spam calls (and customer service messages) that I caught before I hung up. Instead of telling me that my call was going to be monitored for quality control or whatever, I was informed that my call would be monitored "for [my] protection."

Immediate thought: They just told me that (a) Big Brother is listening to me and (b) that that's a good thing.

Second thought: Is this the same type of "protection" that people in cities like Chicago and New York were offered back in the day?