Today's so-called reality shows are way too staged for my taste. Their contrived situations and semi-scripted actions actually render them somewhat less than real.
For unvarnished reality, try listening to a police scanner. You'll hear real cops answering real crime calls. You'll hear police officers as they head into potentially dangerous situations. You'll hear police dispatchers as they try to keep up with everything from fender benders to shootings--all in a standard night's work for many police departments.
When the first police scanners came out, my mother bought one so she could hear what was happening in her city, and especially to hear if anything bad was being reported in her own neighborhood.
I remember coming in late at night from a date to find her sitting at the kitchen table with the scanner going. Naturally, she had been worrying about where I was and listening to hear if there had been any wrecks.
When my brother became a policeman, my mother really had something to worry about--and an excuse to listen to the police radio day in and day out.
Police scanners are not just for professional worriers, though. Many people listen to them as a hobby. Newspaper, radio and TV reporters listen to them in order to get the first word of a major crime or accident so they can get to the scene quickly.
Nowadays, you don't even need a police scanner to hear police calls in many cities. There are hundreds of live police radio feeds being streamed over the Internet. There are also fire department radio feeds as well. All you do is click a link for the city of your choice and start listening.
Picture of a scanner
Tonight, I listened for about an hour to the live police feed from my hometown, a medium-sized city with a normal share of crime and other human conflict. During that hour, I heard police answer calls to respond to an assault, a stolen car, an attempted home break-in, and someone who was threatening her neighbor with a knife.
A number of Web sites exist that have links to police scanners across the United States. Two good ones are Policescan.us and police-scanner.info.
www.Policescan.us has more scanner links--fire as well as police, but it is disorganized and, to be frank, pretty junky looking. Nevertheless, it's worth a visit just for the sheer number of scanner feeds available.
www.Police-scanner.info is also a rather cluttered site, but its scanner list is much neater and better organized. As the list is arranged by state, it's easier to find a particular town's or city's police radio link.
Get the most out of listening to live police radio: Learn the 10-codes!
Police use special codes over the radio. Many of the most common ones start with "10." You're undoubtedly familiar with "10-4," meaning "I copied (heard) you." But what about "10-12" or "10-19?" If you don't know the codes, or have a list of them near to hand, you won't always know what is happening.
Below are some of the most common 10-codes, but there are others. There are also other sets of codes, used by some police departments, that do not begin with "10," or any number for that matter. For example, in some cities you might hear a dispatcher tell a police officer to respond to an "ADW," that is, an assault with a deadly weapon.
10-7 Officer is out of service 10-8 Officer is in service and available 10-9 Repeat last transmission, please 10-12 Officials are present - be discreet 10-15 Prisoner is in custody 10-19 Returning to the station 10-22 Disregard your last assignment 10-24 Emergency at the station - all vehicles return 10-27 Driver's license check 10-32 Drowning 10-33 Alarm sounding 10-34 Please assist at office 10-43 Call a doctor 10-50 Subject under influence of narcotics 10-51 Subject is drunk 10-54 Possible dead body 10-56 Suicide 10-64 Found property 10-66 Suspicious person reported 10-67 Someone is calling for help 10-70 Prowler 10-71 Shooting 10-72 Knifing 10-79 Bomb threat 10-80 Explosion 10-91 Barking dog
A.I. - Accident Investigator A.L.S. - Advanced Life Support (also called Alpha) A.C.F.A. - Attempt to Commit Felonious Assault A.D.W. - Assault with a Deadly Weapon A.R.M. - Alternate Report Method A.R.T.C.C. - Air Route Traffic Control Center A.T.I.S. - Automatic Terminal Information Service A.T.L. - Attempt to Locate A.W.O.S. - Automated Weather Observation System B.C.J. - Bay County Jail B.L.S. - Basic Life Support (also called Bravo) B.M.C. - Bay Regional Medical Center B.O.L. - Be On the Lookout C.C.W. - Carrying Concealed Weapon C.H.F. - Congestive Heart Failure C.M.I.S. - Criminal Management Information System C.S.C. - Criminal Sexual Conduct D.W.I. - Driving While Intoxicated D.W.L.S. - Driving While License Suspended F.A.C. - Failed to Appear in Court F.T.C. - Failure to Comply (with court judgement) G.O.A. - Gone on Arrival H&R - Hit and Run HEARN - Hospital Emerg. Administrative Radio Network HOOK - Tow Truck K - Killed L.E.I.N. - Law Enforcement Information Network
L.Z. - Landing Zone (Helicoptors) M.E. - Medical Examiner M.I.P. - Minors in Possession of Alcohol or Tobacco M.D.O.P. - Malicious Destrution of Property M.D.T. - Mobile Data Terminal M.S.O. - Marine Safety Officer O.D. - Officer of the Day O.T.L. - Out to Lunch O.U.I.L. - Operating Under the Influence of Liquor (or O.U.) P&L - Prostitution and Loitering P.B.T. - Portable Breathalizer Test P.D.A. - Property Damage Accident P.I. - Personal Injury Accident P.I.W. - Person(s) in Water P.O.B. - Person(s) on Board P.P.O. - Personal Protection Order R.A. - Robbery Armed R.T.D. - Return to Department S.A.R. - Search & Rescue S.O.R. - Sex Offender Registration S.O.S. - Secretary of State T.X. - Telephone Call U.C. - Under Cover U.D.A.A. - Unlawfully Driving Away an Automobile U.T.L. - Unable to Locate V.C.S.A. - Violation of Chemical Substance Act
900 police codes you will hear on police scanners:
900 Bomb threat 901 Homicide 902 Sudden death 903 Attempted suicide 904 Sex offense 905 Indecent act 906 Threatening 907 Assault 908 Abduction 909 Robbery 910 Extortion 911 Break and enter 912 Theft 913 Auto theft 914 Possess stolen property 915 Fraud 916 Counterfeiting 917 Weapon 918 Property damage 919 Prostitution 920 Gambling 921 Drugs 922 Missing person
923 Escape 924 Fire 925 Theft alarm 926 Assist citizen 927 Assist officer 928 Locate 929 Phone call 930 Disturbance 931 Landlord-tenant dispute 932 Neighbor dispute 933 Domestic dispute 934 Labor dispute 935 Intoxicated person 936 Unwanted person 937 Mentally ill person 938 Public mischief 939 Dangerous condition 940 Industrial accident 941 Farm accident 942 Insecure location 943 Lost property 944 Found property 945 Trespassing
Radio junkie Stefan Smith writes for the Solid Gold Info Consortium. Recently, he wrote an extensive review of software anyone can use to capture music streams from the Internet and save them as individual mp3 song files, a legal way to download virtually free music. Read the review at http://www.solid-gold.info/radio2mp3.html or go to Radio2MP3 for more information.
Recent Articles
You can print this article by clicking the printer icon at the top this of page.
Ask, answer questions or add more facts concerning "Listen To Live Police Radio" below. Your comment will NOT show up right away, it will be sent for approval before it will appear here. Please bookmark this page so you can check back for possible replies and answers to your questions.
Support Disabled World by linking to this article - Listen To Live Police Radio
<a href=http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/police-radio.shtml>Listen To Live Police Radio</a>
This article is general information ONLY and is NOT a substitute for medical advice or treatment
Ask, answer questions or add more facts concerning "Listen To Live Police Radio" below.