I remember back in the 60's-70's-80's... I always had been told, or read that it was illegal to devulge to others what you hear on your scanner when monitoring public safety communications. I don't know if that was actually true, or if anything over the years had changed. Of course I would tell family members and a hand full of personal friends, but that was the extent of it. A lot has changed since then, and now it's posted in forums and emails, newspapers, new broadcasts freely on radio and TV, often even actual 911 recordings. Then streaming came to be. But does anyone know where it all stands legally today?
I had a friend back in the 70's that overheard LEIN check on his boss regarding a DUI. His boss was absent the next day. Come to find out, he was out of the office for about a week. When he came back to work he told everyone he had been in the hospital. My friend confronted him in front of several coworkers regarding what he heard on the scanner. He was fired on the spot, and probably lucky he didn't get sued. Nothing more came of it. I wonder how that would go today...no well at all I'm sure.
Sometimes it helps the departments and their officers, some like it, some hate it, depending on what was said of course. However they can't have it both ways. They're should be a level of transparancy, but there are situations there should be a reasonable level of privacy. Comon sense on both sides should prevail. However common sense is a rare commodity theses days.