Cops at the Pay Phone

[HeyHomie]

There's a pay phone a couple hundred feet from the window where I work, and I see state troopers there all the time! And this isn't unique to the pay phone near my place of employment; I'm always seeing cops at pay phones.

First of all, WTF are they talking about? Seems to me that any communication regarding the execution of their job would be done over the radio. Which brings me to my second question...

Why are they using a public pay phone and not their radios? Isn't this the whole reason police have radios in the first place? How much money is my city pouring into the phone company's accounts by having cops communicate at pay phones rather than on the airwaves, for which they've also (presumably) paid?

What am I missing?

[wring]

They might just be making a personal call (which, if they're not on a call is perfectly legal, and shouldn't be done on their radios' etc.)

[Conti]

The dispatchers very frequently get calls from citizens requesting to speak to an officer.....either for legal advice, or to report a problem, or to fill out a victim report and such. It is much easier for the officer to telephone the subject, rather than go from here to there to each individual's house. So the cops are probably using the telephones for the same reason most people use them...to place calls. I would say that they may even pay with their own money to make the calls.

Conti

[Purd Werfect]

When listening to a police scanner was one of my geek-like hobbies, I would regularly hear requests by one party or the other to resume the conversation over a land-line. They're most likely just having conversations which may contain personal or sensitive information.

[Mammie]

And why would you consider your former scanner listening as geek-like? I live in a small town and listening to the local police transmissions is the hottest thing in town. I wouldn't recommend it in a big city, but here we know almost everyone. Do I need a life or what? :)

[gazpacho]

Are police scanners legal? I thought I heard at one time that they were not legal.

[Conti]

I know for a fact scanners are not illegal in Kentucky. They are illegal to have in your vehicle, or in public...but they are quite legal if you use them on private property.

I'm sure most other states have similiar laws.

[Purd Werfect]

The scanners are legal. There are some transmissions which are illegal to eavesdrop upon, such as cellular phone calls. Scanners sold in the US have to have the cellular range blocked out IIRC. Until a few years ago, many of the legal scanners could be easily modified to restore the cellular range. I've heard that lawmakers have insisted on making it more difficult to modify the scanners these days. Listening to public servant radio transmissions, such as police or fire, is perfectly legal though.

[Purd Werfect]

Mammie, listening to scanners in and of itself isn't geek-like, but with me, it was simply a further manifestation of gadgetitis. :) It was fun to listen in to what was going on around town. Maybe I'll dig my old Radio Shack 4006 out of the closet this weekend and see what's going on.

[Mammie]

I work in law enforcement, but I am not a police officer. Honestly, I hear more of what is going on here on the scanner than I hear at work!

Careful getting out the old scanner because you may get readdicted. :)

[starfish]

The radios are mainly for cop to cop connections. The radio can only handle so much traffic. If the conversation is taking a while, they switch to a phone.


The radio is not intended for cop to non-cop use; which can still be business.

Cops can be involved in cases. The people involved have the cops pager number, and page him when they want to talk to him.

The same for cops assigned to a neighborhood. People living there may want to talk to that cop informally to discuss problems in the neighborhood, point out a suspect, etc. They can page the cop or contact the cop through the non-emergency police phone number and leave a message which the dispacher will pass on.

[threemae]

But when you do anything to "try and help out" for things, fire, police, medical, whatever usually gets pretty god-damned pissed off, regardless of how much or little you interfere. For that reason, just knowing that people in general can listen in bugs them to some extent, prompting them to change to 800 mHz digital systems with keys that are not typically worth the effort to evesdrop. This also allows them to transmit a lot more information over "data" channel banks without worrying about privacy of those they come into contact with, lessening the time it takes to transmit info by stopping to carry out a conversation over land.

[pkbites]

Patrol officers on the Milwaukee Police Department phone in their reports to a dispatcher at a keyboard. Doing this achieves several things:

1) It keeps cops on the street instead of tying them up at the district station doing reports.

2)It's much faster than the officer writing or typing their reports themselves

3)Having the reports phoned in immediately after an incident gets the reports done and out fast, so the d.a. can see them as early as that day

4)By phoning them in right away all the info is still very fresh in the officers memory and notes.

I'm sure the Brewtown Fuzz aren't the only cops to phone in reports. This may be another reason why you see alot of officers at pay phones.

[Bear_Nenno]

Some departments around here are on a wireless syestem. They just email the reports in. It is pretty cool because they can just take the laptop into the complaintants house and fill in the info as they get it. then by the time the interview is over, the report is done

[zen101]

Originally posted by Bear_Nenno
Some departments around here are on a wireless syestem. They just email the reports in. It is pretty cool because they can just take the laptop into the complaintants house and fill in the info as they get it. then by the time the interview is over, the report is done


A lot of cops use the Panasonic CF-27 or CF-25 (older model) both of which have an optional CDPD model which while slow for internet use is a great way to both send in reports and also run VIN numbers. If you see a cop with a dash mounted laptop bet that it is a Panasonic CF model. The 25 and 27 are both full magnesium cases and have taken 9MM rounds and remained functional (although needing an external monitor.). The price is a bit steep considering that you only get a PII 300 with 128 meg or RAM even though you get a bunch of other options like DVD drive (no MARGI card, just a drive) and the CDPD modem (9,600 baud. like I said it's SLOW) and you pay over 8K American for the unit but the cops seems to like them.

In Portland OR most cops get cell phones but there was a recent problem with some cops making a LOT (to the tune of about 5 grand in once case in one month) of personal calls.

I personally don't think cops should have to pay for cell phones. I think cell companies should donate the time at least. Hell, mostp people get to make personal calls at work as long as it does not interfere with duties I see no problem with cops doing the same.

[DougC]

- - - This isn't quite what the OP probably concerns, but a few years back in East St. Louis IL the city was so broke that the police had to use pay phones to communicate; all the police radios broke and there was no money to pay for repairing them. At one point the mayor asked officers to use their own cars for patrol duty, to which they refused.
- Those of you who didn't live nearby missed it: during the (Mayor) Carl Officer years, East St. Louis was a continuous joke, if you didn't have to live there. Carl didn't even live there, but that's one of the stories. Someday I'll write a book. - MC

[handy]

rastahomie, why not get a tiny recorder & attach it nearby (under the phone?) so you can listen in. I would love to know what they are talking about too.

[occ]

Originally posted by Purd Werfect
The scanners are legal. There are some transmissions which are illegal to eavesdrop upon, such as cellular phone calls. Scanners sold in the US have to have the cellular range blocked out IIRC. Until a few years ago, many of the legal scanners could be easily modified to restore the cellular range. I've heard that lawmakers have insisted on making it more difficult to modify the scanners these days. Listening to public servant radio transmissions, such as police or fire, is perfectly legal though.

All you need to do if you *really* want to try to listen to the cellular band is order a Canadian scanner (I remember finding a website recently that sold completely unblocked ones.).

'Course, heres the thing: not many people use analog cellular anymore (well, its at least becoming less popular). Analog is often more expensive than its digital counterpart, and you can't eavesdrop on the digital ones. I even question how much you can listen in on the analog phones; I wouldn't be surprised if they employ some form of scrambling between the phone and the tower.

Cordless phones, on the other hand...he-he-he.

[Mammie]

I've read and heard about people hearing conversations over their scanners and tv's but I've never heard it.

Is it something people do on purpose in some way or how does that work. I may shoot my cordless phone if everyone in the neighborhood is hearing me. :)

[Guinastasia]

If someone in the neighborhood is on a cordless, and you have a scanner, you can hear it.

My friends and I did it all the time, over at her house. She heard her neighbor making prank calls and her sister's friend plotting to trash her sister's bike while they were fighting.

[Purd Werfect]

Along with cordless phones, baby monitors can also be picked up easily.

[Running with Scissors]

If you're worried about someone eavesdropping on your cordless phone coversations, get yourself a digital spread spectrum unit. I suppose it's technically possible to listen in to one of those, but it wouldn't be worth the enormous effort involved. Even a standard digital model would be better than your old analog unit.

[Mammie]

I guess I'm thick, but I don't understand this at all. My scanner goes 24-7. I have a cordless phone and have never heard anyone on my scanner and you would think it would pick up my own conversations when I am on my phone. What's this about?

Don't get me wrong, I am not disagreeing with you all but wonder why mine doesn't do that. I have had a BIG experience with the baby monitor though. Heard my next door neighbor talking to her Mother on the phone and threatening the old lady (in her 80's) and calling her every name in the book and the old lady was just taking it calmly, so I guess it was an everyday thing for her to be treated that way. Make me really sad.

[KCB615]

To pick up cordless phone conversations (or any conversation, for that matter), you need to have the correct frequency punched into your scanner. I'm not going to give you the range that normal cordless phones broadcast on, since I think the mods might get a little upset over that (the whole not-quite-legal aspect of it and all). If you don't have one of the myriad of cordless phone frequencies punched into your scanner, you won't pick them up.

As a firefighter, I don't mind the public listening to what we're doing. Heck, let 'em come and watch...I love to have an audience. As long as they don't get in my way, that just irritates the hell out of me. We do our best to sound professional over the radio (although that doesn't always happen, but thats another thread), nothing gets said that compromises anyone's privacy, and the public can hear their tax dollars at work. The benefits definately (in my mind) outweigh the forseable problems.

[avacado]

Picking up cordless phones is easy. I accidentally (honest) picked up a neighbor once on a shortwave radio, and I know a girl who used to go on "baby monitor missions" with her brother. They'd get a baby monitor receiver and ride their bikes around the neighborhood, listening to cordless phones and other baby monitors. These were both years ago, so I don't know if frequencies have been changed now. I'm not sure about cell phones, but anything that's broadcast can be received, somehow.

[Mammie]

No, I'm not looking for the code, but was just wondering why mine didn't pick up anything. Now I know. :) Thanks for the information.

Ya gotta love those firefighters. :)