I just discovered this yesterday from a link on my neighborhood app. It's addicting! Ive always respected the police but after listening to the scanner all day yesterday I have even more respect. I was surprised at how much activity goes on even on a Sunday afternoon. There were some strange calls....lots of mentally ill people out there. I could barely tear myself away even when I had to pee. I guess I'll also put it on my iPhone to solve that problem. I didn't even watch Netflix....this was more interesting! Anybody else listen to police scanners?
It's also the first Ive heard of "shot spotters". Seems it's some kind of technology that records shots fired and is set up in probably high crime areas. Heard 2 calls about that yesterday and today I'm seeing on my local news that it was accurate. This is the news report of what I heard live as it was happening. http://abc30.com/suspect-opens-fire-on-two-brothers-in-fresno/3263458/
Had a police and fire scanner when we lived just above Charlotte, NC. Was able to listen to some very interesting calls. I know some of the 10-Codes used, since I used the same ones when I worked as an EMT back in the 70's. Brought the scanner down here to Jacksonville, FL with us, but quickly found out that both police and fire calls had been encrypted, so the public couldn't listen to any calls. Sold the scanner. One thing that a scanner does, if calls aren't "encrypted" (unable to get), just how much crime, fires and emergency medical goes on in the city a person lives in or close to.
Yea, I'm learning the codes...some I knew already but looked up the rest. Just this minute there was a 5150 which is a mental person.
What I find interesting and also disturbing is that on a license check I hear the person's name, address, date of birth and DL number. Anybody who is listening can hear that. So, if I'm pulled over for say...speeding...my info goes over the scanner. Yikes!
Funny, I learned that Code from watch a police tv show and those different codes are also used on the show Live PD.
Actually, a number of years ago, not to long after we moved here in Jan 2009, JSO (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office) confiscated all scanners from local news stations. They stated that local news people were interfering with police work. News people were getting to dangerous scenes before law enforcement and putting themselves in jeopardy. Now new stations have to wait until JSO contacts them about a "scene", before they are allowed to show up.
Well we have them here....didn't know though until yesterday when it was mentioned on my neighborhood app. Just for the heck of it I started listening and was hooked, lol. It's just online not a scanner I had to buy. But I can see where it could be a problem. Sometimes I think they go to another channel to talk more privately but I'm not sure. This is what a shot spotter is for those like me who didn't know.... http://www.shotspotter.com/system/content-uploads/ShotSpotter_FAQ_July_2016.pdf
Yes, for private conversations, they can/do go to a "encrypted" channel.........one that only they can use. If or when, Ken reads this, I'm sure he can add things to it. He owned an ambulance service at one time and, if the channel they used wasn't "encrypted", it would come up on a scanner. Scanners also can pull up taxi transmissions as well as airport transmissions. Depends on what kind of "scanner crystals" are installed in the scanner.
I used to have a police scanner at my house quite a while back, and when I was living in Idaho. I volunteered at the Sheriff Department, as help in the dispatch office , for a while; so we had to learn allof the 10-codes to work there. I almost always had the scanner on when I was at home, and that way, I also knew what was going on before I showed up for work at night. Usually, what I did was help out with filing and listing stolen items , or checking firearms that had been sold to pawn shops to make sure they had not been stolen weapons. One of the things I enjoyed most was helping out at the fair, draft horse shows, or other similar commmunity happenings. I didn’t wear a weapon, but I did have a uniform, and when it was nothing serious, I was often able to help someone, and left the more important things for the regular deputies to take care of. Now, you do not even need to have an actual scanner, you can just use an online one, and this way, you can listen to news that it happening anywhere in the United States. A few years back, when they were having the big manhunt in Californer for Chris Dorner, I was able to follow the whole thing on the police scanners from the Sacramento areas. So, when there are things like the school shootings, or other national news, you can just pick up the scanners for that area and actually hear what is going on while it is happening, and usually, it is a different account than the version that later makes the news once it has been edited.
Yes, I see that I can listen in on scanners in other states also. There is an app for this for $1.99 but I haven't downloaded that.. Just listening online and it's playing in the background even as I type this. I was just ready to go to Trader Joe's and just heard of an accident at Willow and Nees and that's where I was headed. Will wait. I find it all very interesting @Yvonne Smith and think I might have enjoyed working as a dispatcher....of course it does seem stressful!
If you are actually working as a dispatcher, then it would be stressful, especially in a larger city. I was in a small town af about 5,000 people, and I was only a volunteer; so that made everything different. The on-duty dispatcher handled most of the calls, and I only answered when she was already on a call and could not answer. Even so, if I answered, and it was something serious, the regular trained dispatcher would take over as soon as possible. During the day, the whole dispatch office was much busier; so they really did not have time for the filing and entering information into NCIC, and that was usually done on the night shifts. Sometimes, we rode along with a regular patrol deputy, as well. If there was a prisoner that had to be transported to another jail, or prison, then they usually had one regular deputy and one reserve volunteer to go along, that way the force only lost one of the patrol deputies for that shift, and that was also usually done at night when it was not as busy. The funniest thing happened one night when someone called in to report that there was a little stray dog that was running across the Long Bridge that was on the edge of town. One of the deputies went out to try and rescue the poor little fellow so that he would not get hit and killed on the bridge because there was no place for him to be except right in one of the traffic lanes. The dog did not want to be caught, and eventually made it off of the bridge and into town, with the deputy still trying to catch him, and giving us updates on his progress as he went. At the station, we all knew that he was chasing a little dog; but people who just turned on their scanners thought it was a person, and were shocked to hear reports that the “suspect” was now running across someone’s lawn and into the back yard (and other similar reports). We had people calling the station to see if the deputy had finally arrested this suspect, or asking why he just quit following after the suspect ran through someone’s yard. It was a great joke when we explained to them that it was only a lost dog that the deputy had been trying to rescue, and not some drunken driver.
If I had a do over in life I would go into law enforcement....not as a PO but maybe forensics. There were a few animal related calls yesterday @Yvonne Smith ....one was that 3 pit bulls were loose and attacking people. Another one an officer was requesting the SPCA for a dead cat in the street.
I have a scanner and use to listen to it a lot. For some reason, I get mostly static on it now. I have thought about buying another one but I haven't yet.