MN Scan Laws

[sfd119]

I know the MN Scan laws, but being from Wisconsin I have a question on it.

MN Statute 299C.37 says "No person other than peace officers within the state, the members of the State Patrol, and persons who hold an amateur radio license issued by the Federal Communications Commission, shall equip any motor vehicle with any radio equipment or combination of equipment, capable of receiving any radio signal, message, or information
from any police emergency frequency, or install, use, or possess the equipment in a motor
vehicle..." and goes on and on.

What about fire pagers? They receive emergency freqs? Scanners receive emergency freqs and you can't have them?

Where's the exception to the law that allows pagers?

I'm not trying to start something nor have I been in trouble...I'm just curious.

 

[n5ims]

I know the MN Scan laws, but being from Wisconsin I have a question on it.

MN Statute 299C.37 says "No person other than peace officers within the state, the members of the State Patrol, and persons who hold an amateur radio license issued by the Federal Communications Commission, shall equip any motor vehicle with any radio equipment or combination of equipment, capable of receiving any radio signal, message, or information
from any police emergency frequency, or install, use, or possess the equipment in a motor
vehicle..." and goes on and on.

What about fire pagers? They receive emergency freqs? Scanners receive emergency freqs and you can't have them?

Where's the exception to the law that allows pagers?

I'm not trying to start something nor have I been in trouble...I'm just curious.

Fire pagers are excluded from the law in the very first paragraph "Subdivision 1.Use regulated.(a) No person other than peace officers within the state, the members of the State Patrol, and persons who hold an amateur radio license issued by the Federal Communications Commission, shall equip any motor vehicle with any radio equipment or combination of equipment, capable of receiving any radio signal, message, or information from any police emergency frequency, or install, use, or possess the equipment in a motor vehicle without permission from the superintendent of the bureau upon a form prescribed by the superintendent." A fire pager would be tuned to a fire department frequency, not a police department frequency.

The statute goes on in subdivision 3 to say "(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), a permit is not required for emergency response personnel, as defined in section 299F.092, who are members of a public safety agency, as defined in section 403.02, to use agency-issued radio equipment as described in subdivision 1, paragraph (a)," so any emergency response person from an official public safety agency can legallly use agency-issued equipment without the need for even a permit. If that equipment is personally owned, they presumably would require the permit if that equipment included police frequencies. Probably not hard to get if they were indeed first responders.

 

[WX0BPR]

Seems to me

I have the Ham ticket so meet one of the requirements (and rarely have a scanner in the vehicle).
But here is my take on this. On your normal traffic stop, where there is nothing out of the ordinary, no probably cause other than you were speeding or ran a red light and do not reek of booze or marijuana when you roll down the window. I really do not think they are going to be too concerned if you have a scanner mounted in the dash or a handheld on the seat next to you (I would shut if off before you roll down the window). I have ham radio's and other weird stuff in my vehicle for work, and have been pulled over for moving violations and have never had any of that stuff questioned.

Now do this if your wanted, with 27 cases of Budweiser and 12 joints in the ash tray and 16 AK-47's in the back seat after you get done robbing the 7-11, drunk and stoned then you might have some issues with a scanner in the vehicle.... but then again you already have big problems.

Another thing to ponder, laptop with Air-card listening to RR live audio feed, does that classify as a scanner?? Same thing, probably would classify, but how many LE types would know this on a low risk traffic stop.

I am not promoting ignoring MN scanner laws, just my thoughts.

 

[ofd8001]

I'd say "combination of equipment" is probably what would get you if the enforcement side wanted to split some hairs.

The quandry is that so many of the scanner laws are technology ancient. What about the volunteer fire person who has a department issued portable radio with him in his car that happens to be on a trunked radio system. Even if he doesn't have police talkgroups he's still illegal because the same frequencies his radio receives are the frequencies also used by the police.

That doesn't even take into consideration for the fire person's purposes the whole recent nuance of interoperability encouraged by the federal government and state governments. Almost like inviting him to be violating the law.

 

[tvdxer]

Here's my take on it:

We live under a common-law system. That means the past decisions of judges (case law) is just an important as the statutes on the books. There are a lot of ambiguous laws, and still others which seem clearly worded, but a strict interpretation of them would produce all kinds of absurd scenarios that would never hold in court. For example, one state has a law (partly targeted at those with uncontrollable seizures) which states that one, after having a "voluntary or involuntary loss of consciousness", must report the episode to the state to have their license reviewed by a medical board. Now, one could interpret falling asleep at night as a "voluntary loss of consciousness". Under a strict, literal interpretation of the law, it could be said that virtually everyone breaks it! Of course, this is not the spirit of the law or how the wording is intended, and no court anywhere would punish somebody for not reporting their sleep at night to the state licensing bureau. Likewise, a volunteer for a VFD who has a trunking radio issued to them by the department would possibly run afoul of the state scanner statue, but would never be found guilty by a court. Of course, the impetus for a change in statue would also probably be too weak, so it would remain on the books in its present state.

 

[wogggieee]

I cant really see a police officer giving a VFD person a hassle for having a radio in their vehicle. I dont really think that would be a popular move with the officers superiors or with regard to public relations. And I think most VFD work pretty closely with the police so the police should have a pretty good understanding of what they are using the radio for and realize that it is only set to the fire freqs. But now heres another scenario to really mess things up. Before White Bear Lake went digital the police and fire used the same frequency and I know that some of the fire guys have radios in their cars so technically they were violating the law as well. I think the best thing to do if you're worried about having a scanner or pager or whatever else is to just get your amateur radio license, then you're exempt and you dont have to worry about it.

 

[n5ims]

Likewise, a volunteer for a VFD who has a trunking radio issued to them by the department would possibly run afoul of the state scanner statue, but would never be found guilty by a court. Of course, the impetus for a change in statue would also probably be too weak, so it would remain on the books in its present state.

Actually the VFD member with a radio (trunking or not) that is issued to them by the department is specifically excluded from the indicated law in subdivision 3. "(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), a permit is not required for emergency response personnel, as defined in section 299F.092, who are members of a public safety agency, as defined in section 403.02, to use agency-issued radio equipment as described in subdivision 1, paragraph (a)," based on the state statues' definations 299F.092 subdivision 4 "Emergency response personnel" means personnel employed or authorized by the federal government, the state, or a political subdivision to provide fire suppression, police protection, emergency medical services, or emergency activities relating to health and safety. and 403.02 subdivision 18 "Public safety agency" means a functional division of a public agency which provides firefighting, police, medical, or other emergency services, or a private entity which provides emergency medical or ambulance services.

 

[sfd119]

My only problem is I have a mobile radio, portable radio, and a scanner all in my car. Occasionally, I do have to go to Duluth, MN. I've always wondered about this law and things like pagers.

All I know is I've never been stopped here in WI, or MN for anything...and If I ever do in MN, I'll simply try to explain my situation. It may or may not get me out of a ticket, but that's not up to me.