KAIT-TV 8 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, filed a rudimentary report about the proliferation of applications to listen to online police scanners via cell phone. One officer in the video said in a sound bite that it was “alarming” and a “high concern” that such scanner apps exist.
Indeed, these apps do make the radio waves more accessible for everyone — not just criminals. The low cost of these apps — sometimes free — makes police radio broadcasts more accessible than in the days of walking into your local Radio Shack and picking up a handheld scanner for a hundred bucks and get help from the store clerks on how to program it.
What KAIT-TV failed to mention is that most, if not all, of the radio streams for cell phone apps are provided through agreements with RadioReference, who had established strict policies for feed providers when RadioReference acquired ScanAmerica to somewhat limit aid for criminals in the commission of a crime. The policies state that the following is not allowed to be broadcast: “SWAT type operations if on dedicated channels or talkgroups” and “Narcotics / CID / Investigations or other tactical operations”
Seems to me that if you don’t want to be heard on the scanner apps, then switch over to the tactical frequency. Moreover, the same police officer that expressed concerns in the video’s opening also expressed concern over, for example, a criminal listening to the scanner app would be able to know when to get out of the area and if the police were setting up a perimeter. But really, wouldn’t sirens and flashy lights give it away? It doesn’t take a genius to be observant. And it seems simple enough that you could look out the window and be able to see if the police are setting up a perimeter. If you’re setting up a perimeter, then you should already be moved off the dispatch channel and on to a tactical channel.
What KAIT-TV also failed to show are those departments that believe scanner listeners can be an asset to their crime prevention and neighborhood watch objectives. While criminals using scanners can create bad relationships between police departments and law-abiding scanner hobbyists, there are other departments who enjoy mutual relationships with scanner hobbyists.
In fact, RadioReference has actually partnered with some public safety agencies to provide “official feeds” — feeds that are supported and provided by the agencies themselves. Just ask a senior officer how many times they have found a scanner being used in the commission of a crime and you’ll find the whole truth about how rare it is.
The feeds could be broadcast on a time delay of maybe 30 minutes to an hour to avoid aiding in the commission of a crime. But I believe a widespread time delay like that wouldn’t be implemented unless a law is enacted to require it.
Only in very few instances would a feed otherwise be delayed, such as in 2008 when the FBI and Minnesota law enforcement requested RadioReference to delay the feeds by 30 minutes for the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.
So, the Cliff’s notes: not all scanner listeners are criminals, not all police hate scanner listeners, and there are safeguards in place on online radio feeds to limit the abuse of the feeds by criminals.
I used to be an avid scanner listener, in the days before digital and trunked systems when you didn’t have to spend a fortune on the scanner to listen. I guess the best thing it ever did was help me avoid incidents, if they called out a rescue box somewhere along my route, I’d find a different route. Something that I’m sure is quite helpful to the public safety folks, one less car trying to squeeze by. The scanner hobby also converted me to an amateur radio operator. Many hams these days thinks that everyone started out with a CB, not I, I came across some ham repeaters and got interested, especially when they’d talk about HF! I still have my radio shack pro 60, but doesn’t stray far from the ham frequencies these days. I think I have the county fire dispatch in the memory bank too.