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.

On June 2, the department flipped the switch to encrypt its radio communications, shutting out the public from hearing what police are responding to and receiving instant public safety updates.

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

Every day at FOX 13 News, dozens of stories are gathered because of our ability to listen to scanners. A nationwide effort is underway to upgrade police scanners to something called Project25, or P25.

EVERETT — Police radio communications across Snohomish County will be encrypted starting May 6, cutting off public access to real-time scanner traffic, officials announced Tuesday at a press ...

It’s not consistent. And so, we want more, and having access to the police scanners would allow us that.” Jason Hagiwara, KITV general manager, said faster access to information can be lifesaving.

Local News Minneapolis police radio to encrypt communications by May 1 The city will encrypt police radio communications in May, saying the move is necessary to comply with privacy laws.

Listeners can tune in to an online feed starting Saturday, but the Boston Police Department said its radio transmissions will be “slightly” delayed. The post Sorry, scanner listeners: BPD is ...

"Anything and everything that we do on the radios, you're able to do a public records request, so none of this is hidden," he said. "There's no cloak and dagger things that are going on.

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.

On that day, when I came to realize that I wasn’t hearing any Lewiston or Auburn police radio traffic, I wrote first to the Lewiston police chief, who referred me to Lewiston-Auburn 911 ...