Police scanners are actually legal to own and operate in the United States, because the radio frequencies used by law enforcement, like all U.S. radio frequencies, belong to the public.

It was police radio traffic on the scanner that drew freelance photojournalist Juan Ruiz to an Encanto home last year, where he captured video footage of an unarmed man being bitten by a police ...

Television executives told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee that delayed and incomplete updates from police make it harder to keep people safe.

Local police scanners to go dark to the public Tuesday The change is part of a $72 million emergency radio system overhaul that officials say will improve coverage, safety and reliability.

Honolulu’s interim police chief is opposing allowing the media to have access to police radio scanners, despite sounding open to it last month.

Salt Lake City and other police agencies are encrypting their radio from public scanners A new push could take the ability to hear dispatch scanners away.

The city will encrypt police radio communications in May, saying the move is necessary to comply with privacy laws.

Boston police radio transmissions will convert to ‘encrypted digital’ system Aug. 9, officials say By Nick Stoico Globe Staff,Updated August 7, 2025, 4:49 p.m.

Talk of the Town: The police have never provided a convincing argument for why they needed to encrypt their radio transmissions, Mark LaFlamme writes.

YORK COUNTY, Pa. — The times of listening to police scanners in York County have come to an end, as the county has made a change to its 911 police dispatches.

Television executives told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee that delayed and incomplete updates from police make it harder to keep people safe.