Your opinion on hearing crimes on your scanner

[HopperD]

When scanning, how do you feel when you pick up a crime that just happened and someone died?

Early this morning I just happen to be listening to my scanner and it was reported that a concerned
found a gun shot victim near an apartment building. The PD arrived, determined that it was in fact
a gun shot victim and he was shortly pronounced dead after that.

I heard the whole thing... No one reported hearing gun shots at that time but their was a report about 4
hours earlier roughly 3-4 blocks away from the scene.

Fast forward - I'm watching the nightly news and hear about this incident. A father was shot and killed
across the street from his apartment building. He was outside having a cigarette and no one nearby
reported hearing shots.

The family is wondering why it took the police so long (4 hours) to find the body. I don't think it was their
fault because no one nearby called it in.

While I was watching the news, I thought how sad and it made me wonder how others feel when they
hear about crimes like this before anyone else does.

By the way, this happened in Inglewood, CA, early Sunday (8/26) at around 6:30 am.

 

[W8VFD]

A shooting in California, go figure...

 

[W8RMH]

Unfortunately in most big cities the police stay busy responding to constant radio calls.

As busy as they are you can not expect them to just happen upon a body, especially with all the homeless people laying about these days.

This is why it is so important for the public to report unusual incidents. Gun fire is so common in many cities it is not always reported. Many cities are installing gun fire detectors.

I hear people get shot everyday. Sadly this is life.

Just think about the officers and EMS personnel who have to deal with this each and everyday.

If it really bothers you I wouldn't listen to the scanner.

 

[One13Truck]

Maybe it seems cold but I have 2 different views on it. If I hear it on the SCANNER I just hear it as just another call and go on about what I'm doing, maybe listen a little more intently. I feel bad for the victim(s) but nothing I can do. But also being in the fire/EMS service hearing it over the radio as your call gets a whole different reaction. So many scenarios playing out in my head before even responding...

And sadly in this area the crime because of drugs and gangs is skyrocketing. Can't go more than 24 hours anymore without some sort of violent crime. When I was growing up if there was more than 1 or 2 a year it was considered a bad year. Now that just seems like it's just a slow week.

 

[gewecke]

Not surprising at all. As having been a responder, and as a listener I'm sad to say that's business as usual. :roll:


73,
n9zas

 

[reconrider8]

Maybe it seems cold but I have 2 different views on it. If I hear it on the SCANNER I just hear it as just another call and go on about what I'm doing, maybe listen a little more intently. I feel bad for the victim(s) but nothing I can do. But also being in the fire/EMS service hearing it over the radio as your call gets a whole different reaction. So many scenarios playing out in my head before even responding...

And sadly in this area the crime because of drugs and gangs is skyrocketing. Can't go more than 24 hours anymore without some sort of violent crime. When I was growing up if there was more than 1 or 2 a year it was considered a bad year. Now that just seems like it's just a slow week.

im the same way i hear an ems call then its just another call i cant do anything about it but if its a fire call even if its not our dept i still run different scenarios through my head of what i could do if i was first on scene

 

[lynxrufus]

It's exciting when someone might be (or is) saved. When someone dies it's just sad.

I remember one call for a long fall early in the morning, a window washer at I building I go to all the time. Police and FD responded and the first on the scene reported 'j4' which is code for deceased. After that I lost interest. I never even saw that incident reported on the news, which I thought was a little strange.

Another was a report of a man pushing a car on a bridge on a major interstate at night with no lights (actually it was very early in the morning). The police and FD were dispatched but there was some confusion and they went to the wrong place. A tanker truck came across the bridge and the guy pushing the car was killed. That definately was on the news because the tanker caught fire. The truck driver was OK but the FD had a tough time because there are no hydrants on the bridge. They had to shuttle pumpers on and off the bridge and it took them quite a while to put out the fire. One man died but that incident was not as bad as it could have been.

I'm not a big fan of EMS calls and I'd rather listen to FD than the police. I really don't want to learn that someone has died. I rather learn that somebody is saved or a bad guy is caught or there was a fire and everybody got out OK.

 

[AC2OY]

It is sad when somebody gets killed. I also hear sometimes some feel good calls as well.

 

[Gezelle007]

Not surprising at all. As having been a responder, and as a listener I'm sad to say that's business as usual. :roll:


73,
n9zas

I feel the same way, but just because I hear it on the news, hear it on the scanner, read it in the paper or online. It's sad.. but at the same time (not meaning to sound like a scene right out of a movie) I'm kind of numb to it now.. and I forget how normal people don't care to know about that sort of stuff as much as I do. So when I start a conversation about something like that.. they always look at me oddly. It's a good thing I have friends who are involved with public safety..

 

[gewecke]

I feel the same way, but just because I hear it on the news, hear it on the scanner, read it in the paper or online. It's sad.. but at the same time (not meaning to sound like a scene right out of a movie) I'm kind of numb to it now.. and I forget how normal people don't care to know about that sort of stuff as much as I do. So when I start a conversation about something like that.. they always look at me oddly. It's a good thing I have friends who are involved with public safety..

I agree. It's not something you'd bring up at dinner.

73,
n9zas

 

[KB1UAM]

I live in a city where we have a gunshot detection system. There are sensors all over the city. The population where i live is appx. 100,000. Whenever the sensors are activated it sends a wireless signal into the police dispatch center. The protocol here is when one of the sensors alert... the dispatcher sends an ambulance, 3 crusiers and a sergant just in case. The sensors are so finely tuned that it doesnt pick up fireworks or car back fires. So 99.99% of the time there are shots if the detectors go off. The system also pinpoints the location of about a 30 foot radius of where the sound came from. The city i live in also has a very high tec camera system right next to where the gunshot detectors are.

 

[Confuzzled]

Isn't this why people listen?

 

[AZScanner]

I used to shoot news video, so I've covered all sorts of crimes, carnage and death. The ones that stick with me the most are these two: The teen driver who wasn't wearing her seatbelt, got ejected and skidded along the freeway on her back wearing nothing but a tank top and shorts. She lived, by the way. I got there before EMS did and out of respect for her and the officers trying to calm her down and keep her alive as she lay screaming in the middle of the road, I kept the camera off until EMS arrived and got her stabilized for transport. Then there was the guy who decided to make himself into a hostage and had an armed standoff with police. He was holding a .45 caliber automatic to his head and looked right into my camera as he said "All of you stay away, or you're all going to die." The cops fired beanbags at him shortly after that and he made good on his threat to kill the hostage - in other words, himself.

After being an eyewitness to these two things, very little of what I hear on the scanner gets to me anymore. I guess I've become somewhat jaded.

-AZ

 

[gewecke]

I live in a city where we have a gunshot detection system. There are sensors all over the city. The population where i live is appx. 100,000. Whenever the sensors are activated it sends a wireless signal into the police dispatch center. The protocol here is when one of the sensors alert... the dispatcher sends an ambulance, 3 crusiers and a sergant just in case. The sensors are so finely tuned that it doesnt pick up fireworks or car back fires. So 99.99% of the time there are shots if the detectors go off. The system also pinpoints the location of about a 30 foot radius of where the sound came from. The city i live in also has a very high tec camera system right next to where the gunshot detectors are.

That would be short lived here. Hoodrats would shoot AT them!

73,
n9zas

 

[Confuzzled]

After being an eyewitness to these two things, very little of what I hear on the scanner gets to me anymore. I guess I've become somewhat jaded.

-AZ

Guess you haven't heard the house fire with kids screaming and then have FD call for the coroner, eh?

 

[gewecke]

Guess you haven't heard the house fire with kids screaming and then have FD call for the coroner, eh?

I have.


73,
n9zas

 

[lynxrufus]

I don't like hearing the fire dispatcher say that there may still be people in the building. I don't like when a firefighter yells into the radio "flashover!" (this happened recently at a house about two blocks from my house and, without a scanner, I'd never have known about it). But it's cool when they do an accountability check and all companies are accounted for.

I don't listen to hear bad stuff. I listen to hear good stuff.

 

[K9DAK]

I've been scanning for over 35 years, and I've heard some good things and some very bad things. Unfortunately, it's the bad things that stick in the memory. These aren't all crimes, but still have had an emotional impact.

Bad accident with a car-full of teens that missed a particularly dangerous curve and ended up in the backyard of a house in our subdivision . . . FD on scene called for Flight-for-Life . . . then a few minutes later said to cancel flight and send the coroner. One of the kids was a good friend of my son.

A couple good friends are police officers . . . one night they were chasing a man with a gun in a nearby subdivision, and I heard Kevin: "136 I'm hit, I'm hit!" Other friend Steve fired the fatal shot that ended the incident . . . they call it "cleared by death of offender."

Most recently, on a beautiful summer Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago, my wife and I were sitting on the deck enjoying a cocktail and heard an incident unfold where a 10-year-old boy was killed when he fell off a tube being towed by a boat, driven by his Father, and was hit by another boat; the Father and brother and two sisters were inconsolable. My wife and I were both in tears hearing this. That had already been my biggest fear while dragging my own step-kids and friends around our lake on a tube; now I'm seriously thinking about just selling the boat.

 

[MississippiPI]

There are some folk that "hear nothing or see nothing"; while this is common place in some parts of our country, it may not be in all.

Be safe

 

[HopperD]

I've been scanning on and off for a long time and have become desensitized to some minor
crimes. Living in a big city I hear just every type of crime but some I can't help but feel sad.

A few years ago there was a shooting at a residence (yeah I know, California). A mother and her
daughter (10 years old) were hit. The police arrived, made the scene safe and gave the go ahead for
the ambulance to enter. For some reason the ambulance went to the wrong house and delayed
the response by a few minutes.

I could hear the officer frantically calling for EMS to expedite. I think his partner was administering
CPR. Unfortunately the little girl didn't make it.

Witnesses described the get away car and license plate. A few days later the suspect was stupid
enough to drive near the same neighborhood and was spotted by undercover cops in an unmarked
car. They called for black and whites and fortunately the suspect was apprehended.

I don't care how tough you are, stuff like this really gets to you.