I feel like a jail-house attorney...
902 said:
4 - don't go to any parties you're not invited to (don't buff the call and gawk or get in the way - if anything, use the info as a 'where NOT to be' guide).
902,
You're 100% correct that the knowledge that can be gleaned from a scanner, especially when driving/commuting, can be very helpful to avoid trouble (while remembering that scanning while mobile is still illegal in NYS). I've avoided getting stuck in delays many atime because I caught a dispatch for a collission up ahead and had the chance to self-detour well before coming upon it. But, that being said...
If you do opt to use your scanner as a tool to seek out locations to buff (which I've been known to do...take in nearby working fires, police crime scenes, unusual wrecks [pin jobs, rollovers], etc.), then by all means RESPECT the fire or police lines established; don't go under (or over) any yellow tape or barricades. If you get there soon enough and the officers/firefighters have yet to string up any "Police (or Fire) Line - Do Not Cross" tape (or whatever other method they have available to use - I've seen rolls of orange Con Edison tape hijacked and strung across street corner garbage cans to set up crime scenes), use some common sense and keep your distance...across the street, on an opposite corner, where ever, I don't care - but especially NOT between the equipment (fire apparatus, ambulance, police car - whatever) and the scene. A wise buff would not want to be standing by a door of a building an active perp search is going in or near a window of a building that's on fire. One can say that the phrase KEEP BACK 200 FEET doesn't just apply to cars...
Since the thread has taken a bit of a legal turn...if you opt not to to heed the advice offered above, here are the legal ramifications (in other words: here's how the scanner itself could steer you to trouble):
New York State Penal Law's Title L:
Summaries of Article 195 - Offenses Against Public Administration - offers up an array of misdemeanor and felony level crimes...
Section 195.05 Obstructing governmental administration applies when "A person... obstructs, impairs...a public servant from performing an official function...by means of...interference..."
Section 195.15 Obstructing firefighting operations applies when "A person...intentionally...obstucts the efforts of any...firemen..."
Section 195.16 Obstructing emergency medical services applies when "A person...intentionally...obstructs the efforts of any...personnel...or unit...in the performance of their duties..."
New York City Administrative Code's Chapter 2 - Unlawful Conduct:
Try to think back to the days when this law might have been written...
Section 15-207 Fire Lines: "During...fire
or other emergenc[ies]...the officers of the police and fire departments shall remove, or cause to be removed and kept away from the vicinity of such fire or other emergency, all idle and suspicious persons {somebody with a scanner?}, and all persons unfit to be employed, or not actually and usefully employed, in aiding the extingushment and termination of such fire or other emergency or the preservation of property in the vicinity thereof. "
Section 15-206 ...Obstructing officials, officers and members of [fire] department...is basically like Penal Law section 195.15 above.
I haven't even touched on the potential charges from the City Admin Code and State Vehicle and Traffic Law that can be heaped on you if you get in the way with a car, but I think at this point that most intelligent readers get the hint that using what your scanner 'tells you' inappropriately could steer you toward trouble. If you're not intelligent and insist on heading toward a job you just heard put over the air and end up standing / parking / etc. where you shouldn't be...don't come crying to me with complaints that "the handcuffs were too tight." To paraphrase the RevErEnd Jesse Jackson... "Stay out the Way."
SCANdal