Hey Dave, I know your good with all the laws and such, Is this in writing anywhere? Im on a few boards and this is a hot topic..
Dave
Of course the law is in writing. The law was amended and went into effect 2.5 years ago. The Firehouse.com forum is
hardly an official source of information. I thought you "research (your) facts before posting"? Guess not, huh? :roll:
http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/bluelite.htm
http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/emer-vt.htm
As far as your gripe with the local vollies "fly(ing) up on your ass with many flashing blue lights expecting you to move out the way as if they are cops", just remember that they could be responding to YOUR house or to help YOUR loved ones. Just because you're tooling around town with your scanner, and you think you know what kind of job they're going to based on what you hear, doesn't mean you know the whole story. I'm certainly not going to defend the yahoos/whackers out there who do 100 MPH, because they're wrong for doing so. However, how would you feel if you had a fire alarm system installed in your residence, and the local FD decided "It's only a BS alarm system, they malfunction all the time, so let's respond at a reduced rate with just one rig"? See, even if a high percentage of these alarms are in fact BS, some are not. Some are very legit indeed, which is why the FD treats all alarms as legit until proven otherwise.
Cut them some slack...don't worry about counting how many blue lights they have or taking plate numbers down, that's the POLICE DEPT's job, not yours...enjoy being a scanner buff and listening, but stop passing judgment based on what you think you know based on what you hear, you don't know the full story if you're not on the job...and next time one of these volunteers "flies up your ass", remember that they might be responding to help someone you know or love, so PULL OVER.
By the way, I love how in one post you fully admit to breaking the law yourself: "I have scanners and drive a pickup truck. I take my scanner everywhere and when cops are near it gets buried under the back seat I have no trunk never had a problem as of yet.", then in your very next post start lecturing about how "There are law biding people and there are just plain cocky people." (I guess you fall into the latter category by your own admission) and "This is wrong and unsafe.. Law is law." You, sir, are clearly a hypocrite. What was the point of even bringing up the blue light law? It has no relevance to this discussion, unless you are trying to make some blanket statement that volunteer firefighters tend to break or ignore the law? You wouldn't happen to be one of those guys on the outside looking in who has a hard on for the local FD, or firefighters in general, would you? Because I have to say, your posts sure do make it sound like you do.
To the OP: Chris, it's all fine and well that your local PD don't care what the firefighters do, but what happens in your little neck of the woods has zero relevance anywhere else. Furthermore, just because that one cop you spoke to says he doesn't care, doesn't mean that everyone else in his dept feels the same way. The law is the law, and any cop can enforce it as they deem necessary. The original thread was locked for good reason, because people beat this issue to DEATH over and over. Some people do not want to get it through their thick skulls that the law says NO regarding mobile scanner use, and others are constantly trying to play armchair attorney in picking apart the law to find some BS loopholes so they can justify breaking it. There is no point in asking "what do your cops let you get away with?", because it doesn't matter one bit. Just be happy that your local cops turn their heads the other way when you break the law, and leave it at that.
