Unbelievable things you've heard

[scanrfan]

Several years ago during a snow/ice storm (here in Alabama people don't know how to drive in snow or ice), the Birmingham PD Dispatcher came on the air and told the Units on the air "If you see someone getting on the Interstate, stop them and give the a Wreck Report and tell them that WHEN they have their wreck, fill it out!" That's right folks - she said WHEN not IF.

During the Blizzard of '93, one of the local fire departments got a call about 10:00 P.M. to a house fire. The units dispatched were 2 Engine Companies, 1 Truck Company, 1 Rescue Squad and a Battalion Chief. The house was on a fairly steep hill. It had been snowing for several hours by this time and the roads were virtually impassable. I was listening while in bed trying to get to sleep. The traffic sounded like a Keystone Cops routine with the units trying to get to the house. The units finally had to carry the hose to the house by hand because the only unit that was able to get to the house was the Rescue Squad. The house was a total loss. I was lying in bed laughing and crying at the same time. Their attempts to get the units to the house was comical in one way, but I cried because I knew they were busting their backsides trying to get to the house and put the fire out.

[georgew0819]

Towards the end of the summer the local city police put out a bolo/pick up broadcast for a party that was well known to the PD at the request of a neighboring towns PD. The party was wanted by the town PD for (quote was actually said over air) "Having Un-Natural Relations with a sand pile while laying on the beach looking at the womans restroom". Since we monitor the city and town PD's at our Fire Station we all laughed our a$$ off while discussing the pros and cons of the act commited.

[kepps03]

(Heard on Scanner)-->Here locally there was a man who went in to rob a bank. The teller pushes the "panic" button, the doors lock and the tellers windows (bullet proof) lock into place. (Seen on news)-->A few months later this man was trying to sue the bank for "holding him against his will".

[cfr301]

Originally Posted by kepps03

(Heard on Scanner)-->Here locally there was a man who went in to rob a bank. The teller pushes the "panic" button, the doors lock and the tellers windows (bullet proof) lock into place. (Seen on news)-->A few months later this man was trying to sue the bank for "holding him against his will".

HAHAHAH! Thats a great post!

[Deezle]

The first night with my scanner at about 2AM there was a report of a man who's ear was ripped off in a tavern!

[Forts]

It's amazing some of the stupid things people call in with. Recently I've been doing some work in a local 911 centre and I hear time and time again: "911 what is your emergency.... no, I'm sorry sir/ma'am that isn't a police matter", or "no, that isn't an emergency you need to call public works", or "Sir, all our units are tied up on urgent matters and will attend to you when they can. Yes, I know you see cruisers driving by but they are assigned to other urgent calls". Like they say, 98% stupidity and boredom, 2% chaos.

Heard a couple funny calls. One was for a car on fire not too far from me. Dispatcher contacts an officer and directs him to the location, Highway 402 at Hickory Drive. Officer says 'Do you have a description of the vehicle?' Dispatcher replies with 'No I didn't get one, but I'm guessing it's the only one that's on fire'.

Lately as well there have been a fair number of cougar sightings here in Southern Ontario (and no, not the type that hang out in bars wearing leather pants). People seem compelled to call the police every time one of these animals is spotted. Dispatcher calls a unit to advise him that a cougar had been spotted near such and such address. Officer replies 'Ok... thats nice. Was this cat doing anything in particular that was breaking the law?'

One last one... heard the local city FD respond to a monitor alarm at about 1am on a Saturday night. They arrived to find nothing, and as the Captain was calling it in ti dispatch he mentioned that maybe she should roll PD to the area as there was an extremely drunk male party in the parking lot that was getting quite belligerent with them. A few minutes later he calls back and says "Better send EMS too... he just tried to take on a couple of my guys and it didn't work out so well for him".

[dracer777]

Wirelessly posted (MOT-QA30/00.72 UP.Browser/7.2.7.5.610 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

"unit xxx, respond to an unknown injury accident on HW 287, mm ??, again.... people need to learn to drive or get off the road"

[dracer777]

Wirelessly posted (MOT-QA30/00.72 UP.Browser/7.2.7.5.610 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

Originally Posted by jrholm

It always seems to be the more affluent areas that call in with B.S.

Had one in a very nice neighborhood. A lady called in at 0500 hrs and demmanded the city street sweeper be arrested for disturbing her sleep

I think people like that should be arrested.

[jasond5_0]

Given the archive availibility it would be nice for everybody to post any funny/exciting/weird transmissions along with the specifics (Dept, date, time), so that we may all enjoy them.

[joekansas]

Been quite a while ago, but I'd just bought a new scanner- bearcat something-er-other that would receive cell phone signals. It was a base model. Cell phones were not so prevalent at the time- I didn't even have one yet.

A friend and I were out driving around drinking beer (I know) with our portable scanner and a call came over the scanner about an off-duty-officer involved shooting near a liquor store we frequented. The dead man was in his own back yard. The officer was in his personal vehicle at the liquor store

That was an earth shattering event around here. Small town. Most of the calls- even today- are more along the lines of the mailman calling in a mean dog.

So, the cops are going crazy driving to the scene and they even call in some county sheriffs' deputies to kinda cordon the area off and keep people like me and my buddy away from the scene. There has been very limited traffic concerning this activity on the radio. Everyone knows everybody else, so they don't want to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.

Then, downtown calls the police chief on his radio and tells him that, as instructed, they've contacted the local KBI agent via telephone and said agent wants the chief to call him. Chief responds "I'll call him from my cell phone".

So we burn rubber and head back to the house, careful not to spill our beer! Run up the sidewalk and up the front steps and on in the house and turn the scanner on and put it on search. Luckily, not much cell phone traffic that night. The second live freq. it stops on I recognize the chiefs voice just as he says hello to the KBI man.

We get the whole story, as he relays all this info about how the off duty cop (gave his name) was making a purchase at the liquor store and heard gunshots up the alley (at the other end of the same block) and went to investigate. He comes upon a man (gave his name) of about 50, (drunk or high, maybe) standing in his back yard shooting at the back of his own house with a pistol. Suspect and his old lady (gave her name) were having a screaming match, she was standing on the back porch. He is pissed off and shooting at the house while she was standing there. He wasn't shooting at her, it turns out, just shooting up the house.

The cop sneaks up behind him, taking cover behind an old Chevy pickup, and hollers at the man to drop the gun and, being surprised and drunk, the guy wheels around and cop "drops him" (police chiefs words) and the suspect is dead upon arrival of the ambulance. Says where the bullet hit the guy and what damage it did and that they've left the body insitu awaiting the coroner to pronounce him dead.

The dead man was a member of a local family who had dealings with the police often in earlier times, but he'd aged and had settled down into the drinking and crank/meth manufacturing and selling business. Half-assed motorcycle trash type of guy. This was way before meth was as mainstream as it is now.


He had a lot of not-so-nice friends so the cheif was afraid for the well being of the off duty officer. He told the KBI man that he had the officer hid out upstairs at the police station, and was hiding his wife over at the courthouse.

After that there was not much more interesting stuff said and they hung up. That was about the most interesting thing I've ever heard on the scanner.

[bee]

LEO calls in a tag number. The dispatcher did not understand him, and she said "give it to me agin", snother LEO said, "give it to her agin" Joe!!

Oh, well, you would have to have have, been there!

[ab3a]

I had just programmed Howard County Maryland in my scanner a couple years ago. I had not yet configured which IDs I wanted to scan, so I was listening to all of them. It was Friday evening, and I then heard this poor guy with a thick accent. He was driving a county bus to fetch people back from the airport and he was a little unclear about where he was supposed to be and when. He also didn't have a clue as to how much gas he was going to use or whether he should go back to the yard to refuel, pick up passengers, or run another route.

His manager sounded like his last nerve was being plucked. It was late, he was tired, and this lost soul was about to make an even bigger headache for him. I can still remember his tired voice even today, "Mr. Mu, Mr. Mu, how much fuel do you have?" "I go wout an den airpot, wight?" "No, No, Mr. Mu, you probably don't have enough fuel. What does your fuel gauge say?" "It about inch from E" You can hear him sighing, "Mr. Mu I need you to come back to the yard, you don't have enough fuel." "I go to aiport now." "Mr. Mu, I need you back here." "I come get you." "NO NO, Mr. Mu, bring the bus to the yard." "OK, I go to airpot."

It went on like this for many minutes; my wife heard me laughing and she came over to listen. Pretty soon we were both in hysterics. To this day we only have to say "Mr. Mu" and we can't help smiling.

Sometimes it doesn't take much to amuse me.

[ab3a]

I had just programmed Howard County Maryland in my scanner a couple years ago. I had not yet configured which IDs I wanted to scan, so I was listening to all of them. It was Friday evening, and I then heard this poor guy with a thick accent. He was driving a county bus to fetch people back from the airport and he was a little unclear about where he was supposed to be and when. He also didn't have a clue as to how much gas he was going to use or whether he should go back to the yard to refuel, pick up passengers, or run another route.

His manager sounded like his last nerve was being plucked. It was late, he was tired, and this lost soul was about to make an even bigger headache for him. I can still remember his tired voice even today, "Mr. Mu, Mr. Mu, how much fuel do you have?" "I go wout an den airpot, wight?" "No, No, Mr. Mu, you probably don't have enough fuel. What does your fuel gauge say?" "It about inch from E" You can hear him sighing, "Mr. Mu I need you to come back to the yard, you don't have enough fuel." "I go to aiport now." "Mr. Mu, I need you back here." "I come get you." "NO NO, Mr. Mu, bring the bus to the yard." "OK, I go to airpot."

It went on like this for many minutes; my wife heard me laughing and she came over to listen. Pretty soon we were both in hysterics. To this day we only have to say "Mr. Mu" and we can't help smiling.

Sometimes it doesn't take much to amuse me.

[scottaschultz]

This past weekend was our city's community-wide garage sale so there were a lot of reports of blocked streets and boring stuff like that, but the one that made me spit my coffee out was hearing the local PD being dispatched by a man to his soon-to-be ex-wife's house because she was selling his stuff at a garage sale!

[KI4RDO]

Had a call here about 2 years ago christmas time where a ladie called 911 because she saw "Osama Bin Ladin driving down the road in a blue benz" needless to say every officer in the pct and neighboring pct asked for the call to be repeated and sent to their MDT for the laugh. call took place outside of atlanta, Ga. i will see if i can find the audio tape

[RedPenguin]

I was listening to my local transit authority and the Dispatcher said to a driver that a person is trying to catch them at the "Transit Center" and they are arriving in a cab.

Later on, said cab apparently started to follow the bus.

If you can pay for a cab to do all that, why do you need the bus? Or at least, why not just wait until the next bus instead of going through all that drama?

What amazed me is how the Dispatcher & Driver both kept their cool, as if it was an everyday occurrence for people to follow the bus in a cab, then again I did know an older gentleman who loves the Rural buses so much, he literally followed the bus in his own car, when he wasn't riding sometimes.

[RadioDaze]

Newport Beach/Costa Mesa, California
A few weeks ago, I caught an EMT reporting back to Metronet upon completion of their last assignment, "We just removed a barbell from a man's p*n*s."
I thought maybe he meant one of those little barbell-shaped metal things that tatoo enthusiasts like to have installed in their skin.
The next day, this story broke:
Orange County Register article

(Additional detail Daily Pilot )

[RedPenguin]

I was listening to my local police and the Dispatcher called a unit saying:

"Caller on the line saying he is going to go over to xxx st, and is going to do drugs with some friends." or something to that nature.

Who in the world calls the police to tell them they are going to do drugs? I've heard of checking your self in to rehab, but calling the police on yourself doesn't seem like to good of an option.

ANOTHER local call, was when a known CIT (Crisis Intervention/Psych) caller called in and stated she heard her neighbors through the wall planning to attack the president/government and not a single officer wanted to respond. Same caller who said her neighbor upstairs was a gang member from Philly who killed a Priest and was going to kill again, at first many units responded, then they heard her name, 2-3 units said nevermind and stopped responding.

[Michael-SATX]

Listenning to the DEA CH-3 Surveilence (418.7500 FM analog) and during their following a drug car,
they came upon a "chop-shop" cutting up cars out in a field. Things got very interesting and very
promptly everybody and their mother responded, moved in and made a gigantic bust of many people!
Enjoyed reading these posts from others and what they have heard while listenning to their scanners!

[KC9GLG]

I heard a call the other day for a "Wellness check at the Hospital"