Police radio tech question

[rayvelcoro]

When an officer is yelling commands at a suspect, why is this transmitted over the air at times? I would think he would be too occupied to depress the “talk” button in this situation.

 

[katt02]

I'm not a radio tech, however I have an idea of why it may happen. In newer radio system, if an officer presses an emergency button, their mic may be automatically activated for a set amount of time. If they start to yell at a suspect at this time it could be transmitted. New systems also allow dispatchers to open a radios mic and listen in on a situation if needed.

Again, I am not a radio tech, and this is simply my guess. I could be completely wrong.

 

[Volfirefighter]

This is exactly what is happening

 

[mmckenna]

Yep, "Hot Mic" setting on the emergency "11-99" button.

Also, some systems can be set up to allow the dispatchers to send a command to the radio to open the mic. That allows them to hear what's going on if the officer is unable to answer.

 

[MTS2000des]

aside from emergency call with voice (what MSI calls this), it's also what officers do because they want to get on record that the person is being ordered to comply, and give dispatch and all on the channel situational awareness of what is going down.

 

[slicerwizard]

aside from emergency call with voice (what MSI calls this), it's also what officers do because they want to get on record that the person is being ordered to comply, and give dispatch and all on the channel situational awareness of what is going down.

This. It's not a hot mic or emergency button press. Nothing unusual about:

a) Officer is keying up to communicate, suspect does something, officer issues orders

b) Officer is issuing orders, keys radio to relay situation / to document / to grab channel in case SHTF