Monitoring PD - Groton area - legal?

[cj57548]

I was told a story today about an elderly gentleman who had the local police enter his house to arrest a family member. The family member was running from the police and decided to run to the radio owner's house.The radio owner was not involved in anything related to the arrest.The guy had his scanner on and while in the house the officers heard the scanner. According to what I was told, the officers erased the frequencies from the radio before leaving. When the scanner owner went to his local Radio Shack to have the scanner reprogrammed, the store refused to enter the law enforcement frequencies.

I am not from the area and was wondering if CT or Groton had an ordinance against monitoring law enforcement. Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks
cj

[cougarct06512]

Theres nothing illegal about it in Connecticut. The only time it would be illegal is using it during the course of a crime. I know most of the radioshacks around the new haven area wont program, but thats just due to lazyiness. As far as groton goes, there is a lot of military operations there also so the local RatShacks might just be fearing liability.

[izzyj4]

Radio Shack will not program radio frequencies into a scanner. They haven't done that in years since the old Police Call books went out of print (which they used to sell).

Just like cougar said, it is not illegal to have a scanner in your home or car in CT. The only thing you cannot monitor legally is encrypted transmissions, which that is nationwide. Analog and digital transmission monitoring is legal.

[ecps92]

You do find a RS from time-time that will help folks out, including having a Cloned Radio all pre-programmed for the local access.

Having the Police touch my Personal Property w/o a Warrant is illegal.

The story is almost hard to even belive. Unless the Police Officer is/was also a Scannist, most don't even know how to program a scanner, never mind DeProgram

Originally Posted by izzyj4

Radio Shack will not program radio frequencies into a scanner. They haven't done that in years since the old Police Call books went out of print (which they used to sell).

Just like cougar said, it is not illegal to have a scanner in your home or car in CT. The only thing you cannot monitor legally is encrypted transmissions, which that is nationwide. Analog and digital transmission monitoring is legal.

[cj57548]

It surprised me also. That is why I was wondering if maybe there were a local ordinance or something. It was one of those "that's weird" moments.

Thanks for the replies

cj