Your opinion on hearing crimes on your scanner

[One13Truck]

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.

Your city needs to get in touch with the cities around here in Pa. Maybe they can make a pitch and get a commission on the sales of that detection system and an upgraded camera system. We need the gunshot system and the camera system we have is so poorly strung together it's pretty much useless. Of course there's s till a 50-50 of shooting vs stabbings so I guess we'd be SOL on a stabbing sensor system. LOL

 

[One13Truck]

Then again our County 911 Center is so poorly run every just about every crash is sent as " a head on t-bone roll over with injuries, entrapment, ejection, haz mat, fire, and possible 10-45". And just about every fire call from the working fires to the neighbor hearing the smoke alarm next door beeping every 10 minutes for the last week is all dispatched as a "structure fire".

Only so many times they can cry wolf before they get burned. I actually get more scared when they say no injuries or put a fire call out just as an investigation. Usually that's when you have a heavy entrapment and fire showing from every window.

 

[AC2OY]

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.

I wonder why Newark New Jersey dosen't have something like this? Perhaps it will drain too much power?

 

[ab3a]

I listen for the sheer curiosity, the drama, the insanity, and the bizarre. Yes, there are things that happen on the air that might make you cringe. I hear the calls to the ambulance for "life status questionable" and I know what it probably was and who it might be.

We've heard calls for our friend's house on fire. We've heard calls for nearby barns on fire. We've heard the calls for drunks on a Friday night at the trailer park. We've heard calls for wild accidents and airlifted patients. Most make it. Some haven't.

We know where the dangerous roads are, what response times our police have, and things of that sort.

My wife and I listen because we like to know what is going on around us. Some prefer not to know.

I'm not sure which is worse.

 

[vagrant]

It's news in real time. That in itself is significant.

Local TV news, or newspapers can be opinionated and no longer relative if the timeline is significant.

I appreciate the additional awareness I am provided through reception of radio communication.

If I don't like what I'm hearing "I" can turn it off. I am not a fan of living under a rock. I leave it on.

 

[MeddleMan]

I agree with all of you...

I listen for the sheer curiosity, the drama, the insanity, and the bizarre. Yes, there are things that happen on the air that might make you cringe. I hear the calls to the ambulance for "life status questionable" and I know what it probably was and who it might be.

We've heard calls for our friend's house on fire. We've heard calls for nearby barns on fire. We've heard the calls for drunks on a Friday night at the trailer park. We've heard calls for wild accidents and airlifted patients. Most make it. Some haven't.

We know where the dangerous roads are, what response times our police have, and things of that sort.

My wife and I listen because we like to know what is going on around us. Some prefer not to know.

I'm not sure which is worse.

It's news in real time. That in itself is significant.

Local TV news, or newspapers can be opinionated and no longer relative if the timeline is significant.

I appreciate the additional awareness I am provided through reception of radio communication.

If I don't like what I'm hearing "I" can turn it off. I am not a fan of living under a rock. I leave it on.

'Nuff said!

 

[majoco]

If you heard it on your scanner, then surely somebody already knows about it.

If I heard something that sounded like criminals using a discreet frequency somewhere then I might think about phoning in to the PD but then what? The police come round to your house, spot all your gear, you might get your name in the paper, the crims decide they don't like you listening and then.......

No, sorry, I'm all for keeping my head down, despite all the interesting things I hear! :roll:

 

[iceman977th]

I enjoy listening to the scanner, but don't enjoy major calls, I.E. shootings, serious accidents, fires, etc. (Half the time, I'm on scene anyways when a fire breaks out, with the FD). It does keep you informed of what's going on. There are times I've heard the scanner, and shortly afterwards found out it was a friend of mine, or a friend of friend's.

One incident that sort of stuck with me. Friend of mine was waiting for their significant other (both girls...leave it at that) to see her for a few minutes. Texting to see where they were at, and the phone went silent. About two minutes after that, nearby FD gets called out for an MVA, so I think for a minute, but we didn't think it was connected. Take her to work, about ten minutes following, get another call, and turns out it was her S.O. involved, and they were being airlifted. I had just pulled up to watch Healthnet depart, then turned around and picked her up, and took her to the hospital (Trauma center was about 30 minutes away). Luckily she was just bruised up really bad, no serious head trauma, just some stitches and bandages. Doing around 60, no seatbelt, no license, no insurance, not her car, was texting and driving, swerved to avoid a head on with a car in the opposite lane, lost it and flipped it on the hill. After seeing the car, I was truly amazed...Not a huge huge deal, but it's instances like this that makes you wonder, everytime you hear a description close about someone you know or along those lines, what if?...

Plus, it's fun to watch the deputies run by doing 95-100mph on the main road...after a car doing 40 in a 55...lol

 

[Denverpilot]

I'm usually listening to major event recordings as a critique and for things I can use as "lessons learned" for myself or for my Communications trainees.

Without recordings, you can't hear how adrenaline and/or confusion and/or ratty comms and/or bad technique, can utterly derail any particular scenario.

I listen live more for background noise and entertainment value. People do dumb stuff. And we all like seeing someone slip and fall on the bananna peel, and better, someone to come along and help them up.

 

[newsphotog]

It is what it is... business as usual...

 

[Code20Photog]

I work in news. We have 10 scanners going all the time. In a city like Los Angeles, we probably hear 20 or so calls a day where someone has died.

 

[radioman2001]

To the OP, you shouldn't feel bad about the incident you heard since you had nothing to do with it or it's outcome. Incidents will occur whether we all listen or not to them.
I have been listening for over 40 years, and it's one of the reasons why I got into radio and P.S. An informed public is a safe public, and I bristle at the sound of any person, government employee,or elected official that wants to take that ability away.
Listening to the locals can also be used as an interesting way to see what kind of neighborhood you live in or might be buying into, as well as the situational awareness. This weekend my wife and I are heading to (you fill in the blank) to check out some retirement facilities and properties. The last time we went there I took 2 radios with me programmed on the local and state radio and trunking systems for both PD and Fire. We casually listened during our down time and learned that the area we were looking into was no better or worse for the quality of life (actually was better in my opinion) or other types of calls than where we live now. It was comforting to know that, and I intend to take those radios with me again.

 

[MississippiPI]

I am a former news photog and assignment editor and I chased news all the time---not all of it was bad but the old saying goes "if it bleeds then it leads". Horrible things have happened and I never make light of them..I went to work then for AMR here running those same streets and saw it again and again--I still see it, does it ever get easier?

Be safe

 

[kb2vxa]

Once upon a time I lived in a high crime area with sirens 24-7-365 and the scanner never shut up, I quickly got used to it since very little bothers me to begin with. Now I live in an area at the bottom of the FBI crime stats list with routine calls all day long, the occasional pronouncement but that's about all. Sure beats putting on body armor when I go out... especially in summer.

Oh, now it's the end of the summer, the season is over and I'll sure miss the local gossip column of the air, the lifeguards. Funny how not a one ever mentioned Snookie. (;->)

 

[gewecke]

Once upon a time I lived in a high crime area with sirens 24-7-365 and the scanner never shut up, I quickly got used to it since very little bothers me to begin with. Now I live in an area at the bottom of the FBI crime stats list with routine calls all day long, the occasional pronouncement but that's about all. Sure beats putting on body armor when I go out... especially in summer.

Oh, now it's the end of the summer, the season is over and I'll sure miss the local gossip column of the air, the lifeguards. Funny how not a one ever mentioned Snookie. (;->)

Hell no, have you seen that BUMP?

73,
n9zas

 

[zz0468]

This one haunts me to this day, when I think about it. Read the article in the link. I was listening to the entire distress call on Marine CH 16 going down from start to finish.

St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search

 

[commscanaus]

Sometimes you just cant believe that what you are hearing is really happening.

One Christmas day several years ago, I was driving to Christmas lunch at a relatives house when a call comes over the local UHF Police repeater "Male struck by an arrow in the head".
As it turned out, the Paramedics arrived on scene and pronounced a 42 year old male dead in his own back yard.

A teenage boy had received his first real bow and arrow set (compound bow) and had set up a makeshift target in the backyard. Eager to show what a good shot he was, he lined one up and let fly.
The arrow missed the target completely and went straight through the fence paling.
The man on the other side of the fence was crouching down to light his BBQ to begin cooking the turkey when the arrow struck him in the head and killed him instantly.

When I arrived at the relatives house and tried to tell them the story, I got told that I should stop listening to the scanner as it is depressing stuff.
Strange how they all sat to watch the news later in the evening to see what I was talking about.

The man killed had young children who were inside when the incident occurred.
An incredibly unlucky chain of events will make Christmas a sad time for both of the families involved.

Commscanaus.

 

[troshs]

Sorry if this is considered an old thread...
I live in a small town thats roughly 2 or 3 miles wide. The whole area is pretty much known to us and if something happens close by or in a neighboring city/town, its amplified. Around here our coroner's code is County 27, and if thats dispatched we know.
Speaking of strange things, I was in my kitchen doing dishes a few weeks ago, trusty scanner was hooked up on my table, less than 5 feet from me. I hear tones...then the regular usual dispatch, and then when it gets to where they reveal the reason, I hear, "for a foot detachment." I thought, wow, fantabulous. This isn't the strangest thing I've heard, I've heard dispatches on Christmas for suicides due to depression, etc. I think the scariest thing I've ever heard was scanner chatter off of YouTube for the Joplin MO tornado. You can hear it from the time the warning was issued up to about a half an hour later, some of the words you hear just tear your heart out. Also, the Aurora Colorado incident is on there and that is pretty sad too.
Us folks hear the real thing, not what the news tells you.

 

[vans113]

i think its good we can hear them, but yes sometimes you hear sad stuff ( batman shooting for example) crazy audio from that, but it also helps news reporters etc on their stories i know they have to listen to scanners also to hear wrecks etc