My Scanner saved me from ???

[657fe2]

In this era of demonstrations and street blockages' and civil disorder; I wanted to start a thread about how my scanner saved me from getting caught up in one of the above situations. I'll Start:
I was traveling sounthbound not to long ago on HWY 101 in Los Angeles, when I heard on CHP radio that protesters were beginning to block lanes on the HWY 101 at Alameda, 3 miles ahead, sitting down on the HWY and blocking vehicles, also throwing items from the overpasses onto the freeway. I was SB 101 at Santa Monica when I heard this I got off the 101 and took city streets down to HWY 10 and continued east to my destination unmolested by protestors or items from overpasses. If not for the scanner I could have been caught in a mess that lasted for hours. That's my story. God bless CHP and my scanner, the [traffic on the 5's] news station did not cover the breaking news until it would have been to late for me to avoid the scene.

 

[JD21960]

*2 Major Tornadoes ... ON ONE I was driving to hit Golf Balls in that direction when I heard a Tornado was on the ground 1/2 a county away heading our way. Another down state driving home, heard the Warning and it was going to cut in front of us on the Interstate. We stopped for 30 minutes to let it pass .. Whew....
**A Man with a shot-gun shooting in the air off an APT balcony - *I was about to work IN that block about a half-an-hour later doing deliveries. SWAT, State-Police and More had to spend 8 hours talking him out of violence
***Halloween evening, a murderer who was known locally for killing a State Police officer ESCAPED through the Sally-Port somehow. I was about to go down to the Piggly Wiggly 2 blocks from the PSB. Can you freaking imagine it? kids were out trick-or-treating and Micheal Myers was on the loose! I still remember the Hysterical call by the dispatcher ...Attention all (County**City Police and CIVILIAN monitors! .. (Name here) ... has ESCAPED from the Public Safety Building!! After several frantic calls and false sightings... they found him hiding in the CEMETERY down the road. If was like a horror movie. What luck ...back then we could hear everything, Tactical, Surveillance and anything of DANGER to the public instead of us walking blissfully right into it all. With all this undue criticism of Scanners I still maintain that Twits and Farcebook are more a danger to our Police friends, neighbors and relatives.

 

[Eng74]

Being stuck in traffic more times than I can remember.

 

[ke6ats]

Several years ago I was driving south on the 99 from Fresno to Visalia with 2 friends. We hadn't seen each other for a while, so we were all talking. I had 2 scanners & 2m/70cm all running, but had the volume down just enough to "kinda" hear the radios. I heard an officer come on the air & could hear his siren. Then I heard him reference a crossroad that was just ahead. I cranked up the volume & told my friends to STFU. The next thing I know, I have the suspect vehicle coming at me. Northbound in the southbound lanes. I swerved toward the right shoulder, but this maniac was veering directly at me. I ended up getting about 30 feet off of the asphalt, into the dirt, right along a fence. I accelerated & the guy missed me by (maybe) a foot or two. Multiple LEOs right behind him. We went on, pretty freaked out. The cops finally got out a spike strip & got him stopped. Turned into a "suicide by cop". Dude wasn't going back to prison. He had a string of warrants for violent felonies. After that, I do NOT travel without a scanner on & tuned specifically to CHP et.al. along whatever route I'm going.

 

[danesgs]

Learning not to be stupid by listening to reality over the radio from fire and police units. weather alerts, basic understanding that media and news crews do not have all the facts in an evolving situation. learning what it means to be able to listen to folks I VOTED for.

 

[gmclam]

Avoiding areas, road closures and active incidents is the #1 reason I monitor. Every time I venture out on a significant trip it pays off.

 

[norcalscan]

Multiple times CHP situational awareness for pursuits coming my way, collisions etc. Plenty of time to safely get me and my family out of the way.

Also, avoided further angering my local PD when I drove by a DUI stop late one night and was mesmerized by the lights in my rear view mirror (back when LED light bars were new ). A few blocks away still mesmerized by how bright the lights were. Then I hear a "possible failure to yield Walnut at the tracks, westbound," as I went over the tracks on Walnut. Oh, THAT's why those lights were still so bright. (I had a headlight out, with a replacement purchased that evening from the auto store sitting on my floorboard.)

That same night heading home rural road I suddenly have a tailgater, crown vic headlights. Sheriff runs my plates and then advises they'll stop me an intersection well ahead of where my home was. So I throw on the blinker and turn into my driveway while sticking my hand out the window to wave goodnight (they had not lit me up yet). They were not happy with that hahaha. A little humorous deescalation in my driveway and then his partner hit him and said "see I told you I heard PD run those plates earlier." Well how'd you know it was us behind you? "I heard my plates called over the radio." How are you listening to us? Why? "I help run your communications in your mobile command van during major incidents, radio is sorta what I do..." Oh. Oh yeah. Well, get that headlight fixed. Dang DUI saturation patrols during rodeo weekend.

 

[bharvey2]

Not recent but a few years ago, while driving on a local freeway, the CHP closed the freeway in my direction of travel due to a potential jumper on an overpass. This allowed me to get off and hit the side roads long before I would have gotten a spectator seat on the highway. Fortunately, the guy got reeled in and the traffic jam was the worst of it.

 

[trentbob]

Avoiding traffic issues of course.

I live in a somewhat urban area, row houses, high crime pockets.

This is actually happened several times that across the highway is a neighborhood of tenements where there is high crime, lots of gunfire and gang activity. It's about 5 blocks from me but it's on the same road on my part of the highway.

Regular murders every year lots of drive-by shootings. Drug-related... I always hear it on the radio and I listen for the direction of travel of the suspects and if they're on foot or not. They usually head down my street to another neighborhood on the other side of me. Always armed and dangerous.

You can bet that when one of these incidents happen I've got my eye out in my relatively safe neighborhood for the suspects on foot cutting through our backyards dodging cops or walking by my front door which I quickly close and lock.

 

[brcoz]

One night I heard a pursuit going on in Moreno Valley. It started getting closer to me house. The guy crashed a few blocks from my house and started jumping fences to get away. He was two blocks away I got up locked the back door and got the Colt Python just incase.

Taking a afternoon trip to Vegas I heard the pass was going to close due to a fire. I was able to get off the 15 before the point of no return. They were stuck for many hours that day.

Another time I was going home and a pursuit on the streets. They were heading in my direction. As I stopped at the stop sign I held it a few more seconds and here they came. I could have been hit if I did not know it was happening. This was Christmas eve years ago before the E word took over.

 

[scannerboy02]

As a professional driver picking up and transporting emergency medical specimens I use the radios to avoid highway closures. I am also on heightened lookout when I hear a broadcast for a wrong-way driver heading in my direction, we have a major issue with this on one highway I drive several times a day.

 

[markclark]

My scanner saved me from hours and hours of boredom.

 

[mmckenna]

My scanner (as a kid) saved me from a boring career. Without the scanner, my dad's old CB, and an old shortwave radio my grandfather gave me, I'd probably be flipping burgers right now.

 

[danesgs]

I spent 4 years in a tough but great job working with the handicapped when in my early 20's. During that time the radio was my diversion from a lot of the night shift woes. I spotted a job opening at a Heathkit on my way home one day and after weeks of showing up, they hired me. All the listening sparked a new career move and and later a longer career in IT support until I retired a year ago.

Listening to radios, scanning made me choose a different path in life and has kept me safe and focused most of the time.

 

[Randyk4661]

My Scanner probably saved my life once.

I was going to work one morning and the local PD was trying to stop a vehicle. they were approaching the same intersection as I was, They were going east, I was going north. I slowed down to almost a stop just as the guy went east in the west bound lanes through the red light. Had I continued without slowing he would have plowed into my driver side door at about 40mph. He bailed out of the car later and the PD lost him, don't know if they ever did catch him. One time I was glad to have the scanner.

 

[com501]

My TRX-2 I bought last month kept me from buying a new handgun. That was last month, this month has a whole new budget.

 

[trentbob]

My TRX-2 I bought last month kept me from buying a new handgun. That was last month, this month has a whole new budget.

That's if you can find one.

 

[DJ11DLN]

Scanners have saved me from numerous traffic snarls over the years, as well as allowed me to avoid road closures for whatever reason without having to back track. And when I was still active with the VFD, several times I'd hear from traffic on the LE or EMS side that we were going to get a run and could head for the firehouse well ahead of the tones being dropped, which sometimes inexcusably took forever. One time I drove to the firehouse (3 miles), geared up, took the rescue to the scene non-emergent (med-assist run, another 4 miles) and was helping the EMS folks before the tones even dropped.

And recently one of them saved the local LE some trouble. I have a relative who lives in another state and she had to replace her phone. Not all of her contacts transferred and mine was one of them that didn't load. She was trying to use an old landline number that I haven't had for ages and after 3 days of getting the number-not-in-service message, she called the local SD to do a welfare check on me. I heard it, called them and said don't bother, I'm fine, then called her. The Deputy did cruise by slowly and I was close enough to the window to wave at him.

 

[dkf435]

My Scanner probably saved my life once.

I was going to work one morning and the local PD was trying to stop a vehicle. they were approaching the same intersection as I was, They were going east, I was going north. I slowed down to almost a stop just as the guy went east in the west bound lanes through the red light. Had I continued without slowing he would have plowed into my driver side door at about 40mph. He bailed out of the car later and the PD lost him, don't know if they ever did catch him. One time I was glad to have the scanner.

Have heard this story before, was it on Harbor or Euclid? Near the Boulevard? And I still have the original version AR-3000 I bought at Communications Center on Euclid. Did you have a MX7000?

 

[iMONITOR]

My scanners saved me from becoming wealthy!