Rural Crime in Alberta
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CPIC insists that all database queries will be secure and private, or they will be pulling access. They gave no end date, but they declared that all police forces will make it a priority.
An RCMP member was telling me that a lot of vehicles used in rural crime sprees have been found with scanners in them. The criminals use them to track the police response, and plan their escape. So there's always that angle.
I know some are paranoid about this, but how many reports have really stated this? Even with the large number of stolen vehicles in and out of Calgary, I have never seen or heard that this is a problem. Besides its against the law to use a scanner for illegal purposes!!!!!! I can see it around the city, but a lot in real rural Alberta are not even aware of scanners. At least the people I know and frequent.
kayn1n32008
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scanners are quite common in RCMP busts in Alberta.
Yes they are and you don't see them in the media. It's just no big deal as there is no law in Canada prohibiting anyone from using a scanner while committing a crime. Police used to put them in the drug bust photos but don't bother anymore. Scanners are very common in rural Alberta even for lawful users. Stony Plain RCMP often broadcast reports to those in Scannerland.
In a recent criminal flight an officer on the ground said he thought the suspect was holding a scanner. Air 1 said he didn't think so as he knows how they react in a chase when using a scanner. It turned out to be a cell phone.
harryshute said:
And I have also heard that here in the Calgary area where one police force thought they stolen vehicle was using a scanner but another force following didn't think so. And they weren't.
I know a lot of rural Alberta are now posting a lot of criminal activity on Facebook.
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If you don't think that people who have been caught and have lots of time in custody to think about it don't talk to their cellmates about how to avoid getting caught next time, you're dreaming in technicolor. And that guy that had the cell phone? He was probably on the phone with an associate who DID have a scanner. Having unencrypted dispatch channels would be nice but in reality, fumbling with radios during a pursuit to find the right channel is risky for everyone. This is the sad reality of the times we live in.
Don't think the guy in the car with the cell phone was talking to anyone with a scanner. If he was he would have been avoiding all the spike belt locations like Air 1 was used to seeing. He was caught. Maybe his friend was fumbling for batteries to get the dead scanner working.
The rampant auto thefts and breakins/thefts from vehicles/houses in my area lately haven't really needed scanners given the great distances police have to travel (my RCMP detachment is enormous and I'm basically at the far end of it). Locals are trying to change that with some citizen patrols and etc., plus greater surveillance both electronically and biologically (i.e. eyes and ears). That having been said, for the current spate of thefts/crime over the past 6-8 weeks, the region where every person who's been charged for these crimes is from, is legendary for literally every house (and I'm not being hyperbolic) having a scanner. RCMP exploit this when they are looking for someone and/or for help.
I can't really comment on whether or not scanners are in use by the criminal element here. Some of you say they are, though they don't seem to get mentioned when these people are arrested - although in all fairness RCMP aren't really publishing a catalog of all items seized when arrests are made, so I wouldn't know for sure. Realistically I'd like to think that if all these clowns had scanners, they wouldn't be getting caught as easily as they are, but as the saying goes - they're not exactly the brightest bulbs.
I can't really comment on whether or not scanners are in use by the criminal element here. Some of you say they are, though they don't seem to get mentioned when these people are arrested - although in all fairness RCMP aren't really publishing a catalog of all items seized when arrests are made, so I wouldn't know for sure. Realistically I'd like to think that if all these clowns had scanners, they wouldn't be getting caught as easily as they are, but as the saying goes - they're not exactly the brightest bulbs.
I have to agree if these low lifes are using a scanner, they are not very good at listening to them and shouldn't present a problem. But they are quick to show all the guns. In the past week I have received a number of Facebook posts with pictures of cars and licence plates of people driving into and who have been snooping around on farms, one stealing a goose neck trailer. I saw a dramatic increase in the use of monitoring cameras on farms last year and talking to the farmers/ranchers it was largely because of the increase in strange people coming into yards and thefts that have occurred. And yet no real evidence of these people when caught having a scanner with them. A lot of rural small towns utilize COP members to help patrol the towns. I wonder if they will get an AFRRCS radio while volunteering?
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