Police Scanners allow the public – news junkies, curious civilians, and criminals – to tune into police radio frequencies and follow events in real time.
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The right of the public to listen to police scanner feeds has been highly disputed in previous years.
The 1997 Wireless Privacy Enhancement Act nearly banned civilian police scanners.
“When a potential criminal can evade capture and learn, ‘There’s an app for that,’ it’s time to change out practices,” said D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier in a 2011
article in USA Today.
But still, many feel that the public has a right to know about police action in their cities and the advent of smartphones has made police scanners more accessible than ever.
Below are some of the most popular police scanner apps:
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Scanner911 Police Radio Pro
For only $2.99 Apple product users can download this 4.5 star scanner app. Police Radio Pro has 14,337 ratings, making it one of the more popular iPhone scanner apps.
5-0 Radio Police Scanner
This app is free on iTunes and is by Smartest Apps LLC. 5-0 Radio Police Scanner allows users to tune into police, firefighters, aircraft, railroad, marine, and other emergency official radios in their area. “Each feed comes from a person in that region with an expensive police scanner and is sharing the signal with you via the internet,” says the iTunes description.
Police Scanner
Police Scanner is a free app by Critical Hit Software that is available for Android on Google Play. The app gives downloaders access to 2,500 police, fire, and rescue frequencies at the swipe of a finger. “It’s like Jersey Shore, but not really,” says the Google Play app description.
Police Scanner Radio Scanner
This Google Play Android app created by BEROBO gives users free access to police scanners in over 8 countries and 50 U.S. cities. Police Scanner Radio Scanner has a 4 star rating and a total of 79, 148 reviews.
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