scrappert
Prolific Pea
RefuPea #2956
Posts: 7,822
Location: Milwaukee, WI area
Jul 11, 2014 21:20:09 GMT
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Post by scrappert on Oct 4, 2018 19:41:40 GMT
I grew up in a home with a scanner. At that time, there wasn't FB or social media, just the plain ole telephone! My mom worked for P&P, so she had it just for entertainment purposes really. My parents would sit at the kitchen table having their refreshments, talking, having dinner alone (my sister and I were banned from the kitchen on Friday and Saturday nights!), listening to the scanner. We lived in a smaller town (30,000 +) so everyone pretty much knew everyone.
Did she go and spread what she heard on the scanner? No, since she worked for P&P she had confidentiality for people. I guess it was just something to do for them.
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PrettyInPeank
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,691
Jun 25, 2014 21:31:58 GMT
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Post by PrettyInPeank on Oct 4, 2018 19:44:24 GMT
I downloaded a free app once when there was some issue I wanted more information on. I can't remember what though. It may have been the Napa fires spreading as that's what's coming to mind, but it may have also been the time there was dozens of police vehicles completely blocking off a major roadway and zero news on it. I would never see the need to buy an entire scanner though. Or if the app wasn't free, I wouldn't pay for access.
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Post by librarylady on Oct 4, 2018 20:43:47 GMT
Small town - my uncle had one to keep his finger on the pulse of the community. He loved being "in the know."
He also learned of my sister's suicide before the rest of the family knew because of the scanner.
There have been times I have heard all the sirens and wished I knew what was going on. Since our community went digital with the emergency equipment, I'm not sure if scanners work here....or if those who have them had to upgrade.
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Post by freecharlie on Oct 4, 2018 22:46:45 GMT
I've never had one but don't see those who do as nosy. They are people who care about their community and prefer to be up to date on what's happening. Are certain neighborhoods being targeted for crime? We need an alternate route, our regular one is blocked with an accident. To me that's being nosy. You can find out all the info you need to know thru your local news, or FB pages. You don't have to know the details and what's going on at that minute. It's peoples personal lives. I can sort of get the accidents, but how often would that happen? to have a scanner? I live in a town of 1500 with the surround rural area. We don't have a local paper, the fb page piggybacks with a nearby town (and that is more busybody and nosey than a scanner). We don't have a lot of sirens here and when they go off, people notice. I've definitely listened in on the app to see what is going on. I'm often being nosey. At the same time, there are lots of rural roads and horrific accidents. If my kid isn't home, I listen to see why the sirens are going off before I freak out and try and contact him.
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flute4peace
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,757
Jul 3, 2014 14:38:35 GMT
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Post by flute4peace on Oct 4, 2018 23:17:08 GMT
Yes I work for local media. If something’s going on I need to know so I can cover it. It’s my job.
I don’t gossip about what I hear on there, nor do I rush to fb about it. In fact, many times, when asked for details about something, I’ll say I don’t know even though I do. I’m fiercely respectful of victim privacy. Have had to tell a good friend that I didn’t know it was her nephew in a fatality even though I knew it was.
Plus my husband was a FF & we have other family that are LE & FF/EMS.
We’ve always had scanners. We’re not nosy or busybodies.
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AnotherPea
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,968
Jan 4, 2015 1:47:52 GMT
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Post by AnotherPea on Oct 5, 2018 0:14:57 GMT
Why is it any more nosy to have a scanner than it is to read the newspaper?
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Post by MsChiff on Oct 5, 2018 0:31:57 GMT
I don't really care why people have scanners but I, for one, am happy some do. Neither my brothers nor I lived near my father. A family friend had a scanner. A couple of times she heard on her scanner that EMS was being dispatched to my Dad's house and she in turn called a mutual friend who lived near my Dad and would drive to my Dad's, find out what was going on, contact us to let us know, and be with him until one of us arrived.
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leeny
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,647
Location: Northern California
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 1:55:53 GMT
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Post by leeny on Oct 5, 2018 0:40:21 GMT
I listen to Broadcastify.com when I am internet surfing. They don't have police scanning in our area but they have fire and ambulance. It is basically for entertainment, but when there has been a big event like our huge wildfires it gave me info on what was happening much quicker than the news. However it was very strange and surprising when I heard my mom's address one evening. She had called 9-1-1 due to a fall.
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flute4peace
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,757
Jul 3, 2014 14:38:35 GMT
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Post by flute4peace on Oct 5, 2018 1:20:31 GMT
I listen to Broadcastify.com when I am internet surfing. They don't have police scanning in our area but they have fire and ambulance. It is basically for entertainment, but when there has been a big event like our huge wildfires it gave me info on what was happening much quicker than the news. However it was very strange and surprising when I heard my mom's address one evening. She had called 9-1-1 due to a fall. We’ve had several times where a call involved someone we knew (including loss of life). It can certainly be distressing.
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Post by chaosisapony on Oct 5, 2018 1:26:46 GMT
It's pretty common here for folks to listen to the scanner apps. We're on high alert for fires for 8 months of the year and I always appreciate the scanner folks posting the dispatches on Facebook so I know what is going on close to me before it becomes a major problem.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 5, 2024 22:32:53 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2018 1:47:07 GMT
Well a couple of times I would have liked one. The I would know what my neighbor was being arrested for!
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anaterra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,864
Location: Texas
Jun 29, 2014 3:04:02 GMT
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Post by anaterra on Oct 5, 2018 1:51:17 GMT
DH has one... we live about 15 miles outside of town.. so if he hears a siren that isn't obviously a speeder.. he will turn it on to hear where or what farm... if it's someone he knows lives alone or someone he is friends with then he hops off to be with whoever.. it's a rural area.. we are nosey but we also care about each other...
In fact we were at work when my brother in law was killed in a car wreck... but someone heard it on the scanner and called my husband's uncle to go to his sister's house (my mother in law) because it was fixing to be really bad news... nosey.. yes but also caring... we look out for each other...
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desertgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,646
Jun 26, 2014 15:58:05 GMT
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Post by desertgirl on Oct 5, 2018 1:53:03 GMT
Yeah, no, cindyupnorth. You don’t know what comforts my 71-year-old brother who doesn’t use a computer or read newspapers. Everyone’s inner world is different. Sorry you had your particular feeling growing up.
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Post by katlaw on Oct 5, 2018 2:13:22 GMT
I work for the fire department. We have some encrypted channels though not all of them. We used to have someone who broadcast all transmissions on a website he set up. He was asked by our Fire Chief to shut that down. People who listen and then head to that location can be putting themselves in danger. People who listen and spread rumours about what they have heard can do a lot of harm to someone. I would not want someone listening in and talking about my emergency.
I actually think it is wrong to listen so you know what is happening in your neighbours house. If you want to listen for traffic accidents on major roadways that is one thing. What if there is a domestic situation or someone has passed away in their home or had an accident in their home? They deserve to share that if they chose to, and a call to 911 should not be out there for anyone who has a scanner.
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Post by ghislaine on Oct 5, 2018 2:40:01 GMT
Sunday night there were a ton of emergency service vehicles on our rural road. The only reason I know how many of each type is because my husband was putting the trash can out at the end of the driveway when the first three police cars came up the road. My husband stayed out at the end of the driveway (making me very nervous about where he was with all the sirens going by.) I wish I'd known about scanner apps that night. I'd been smelling the occasional whiff of smoke so I was concerned about a forest fire.
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Post by yoursweetwhimsy on Oct 5, 2018 2:49:27 GMT
I would have one and listen to my son’s department if it wasn’t an encrypted channel. It might give me piece of mind, knowing what he’s doing. Then again, maybe not..
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Post by gmcwife1 on Oct 5, 2018 5:59:14 GMT
I never thought of it as being nosy, more like a hobby-type interest for some people. Following first-responder activity. Well, I guess being nosy is a hobby-type interest for some people. My dh had one early in our marriage because he was interested in law enforcement. I didn’t think of it as being nosy either.
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Post by pattyraindrops on Oct 5, 2018 6:30:02 GMT
I don't have one and didn't know about the other methods, but I would like it when the helicopters are flying overhead, especially when the lights were in my backyard one of those nights! Found out later it was searching for a mountain lion.
I would have appeciated it with the suspicious item at my son's school when they went on lockdown with all the police around the school and the news and police helicopters flying around. I'm sure my dad would have appreciated it when a car chase ended in the yard next to his house yesterday with more than a dozen police cars and the passenger in the suspect's car escaping and running off.
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Post by lisae on Oct 5, 2018 11:41:09 GMT
A friend of the family had one. She was in the busy body category. If we heard a rumor about anything, we just called her to verify. Between her police scanner and all her other contacts, she knew everything going on in our town. This was in the years before there was an app for that.
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Post by teacherlisa on Oct 5, 2018 14:18:31 GMT
I would have one and listen to my son’s department if it wasn’t an encrypted channel. It might give me piece of mind, knowing what he’s doing. Then again, maybe not.. Probably not lol.
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