Emergency Radio! Scanning News as it Happens [Illustrated] 1568660502, 9781568660509

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https://archive.org/details/emergencyradioscO000schr

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NORM SCHREIN, "Mr. Scanner" President, Bearcat Radio Club

ee Publishing

Group,

Inc.

San Diego, California

EMERGENCY Scanning

news

RADIO!

as

it

happens...

Published by INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP, INC. 3368 Governor Drive, Suite 273F San Diego, California 92122

All Rights Reserved Copyright © 1994 by INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP, INC. ISBN 1-56866-050-2 Library of Congress Card Number 94-076575 Publisher's Cataloging in Publication (Prepared by Quality Books Inc.) Schrein, Norman

H.

Emergency radio : scanning news as it happens / Norm Schrein.

p. cm.

ISBN 1-56866-050-2

1. Radio—Monitonng receivers. 2. Radio stations. 3. Government communications systems. 4. Emergency communications systems. 5. Amateur radio stations: I. Title. II. Title: Scanning news as it happens. TK6564.M64S37

1994

384.5

QBI94-830

Printed and bound by SOS Printing, San Diego, CA

Printed in the United States of America

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CONTENTS ‘NOLOGY Acknowledgements Foreword by Henry L. Eisenson Introduction

Beatty and Cheney — The Real Miami Vice Public Safety in Rural America Saginaw Saturday Night The Ontario Provincial Police May “The Force” Be With You New Communications Center in Peoria Monitoring Florida’s First Coast Headshot in a Heartbeat - The Cincinnati SWAT Team The Gangs of Fort Worth Women in Police Work Union City — The Town That Crosses the Line Witnessing Police Work First Hand Rochester’s Fire Eaters Working Side-By-Side EMS Indy Style A Tampa Fire and Rescue Story Dallas/ Ft. Worth EER) Airport Fire & Rescue Tools of the Trade The Magic Behind the Magic A Radio Pioneer Ham Radio - Nothing Amateur About It Hams and the Miamisburg Disaster Spacemen Scanning In Hostile Territory Global Scanning Scanning the High Seas Monitoring the Federal Bureau of Prisons Hoover Dam - The “Dam Police” The Postal Inspection Service America’s Front Line Security at Both Ends of Pennsylvania Avenue Big Money Spills Batter Up! — Radio and the Cincinnati Reds Drive Time - Monitoring the Traffic Reporters Ventura’s EOC Put Your Scanner to Work

Acknowledgments... This book represents more than my own effort: many people have assisted me. My sincere thanks go to radio professionals such as Bob Grove of Monitoring Times, Larry and Robin Miller of National Scanning Report, and Tom Kneitel of Popular Communications and the author of many radio related

books. All have been most helpful on the background of the book. (In fact, earlier versions of two of my stories first appeared in Monitoring Times, and versions of many of the others were originally published in National Scanning Report). Special thanks also go to two Bearcat Radio Club staff members who helped with the initial proofing: Peggy Libecap and Debbie

Lockhart,

and to Bonnie

Farmer

of Phantom

Productions who did the initial layout and keyboarding. My family members deserve a big thank you for their patience and interest in my projects. Not only did my wife, Kathy, do proofing and editing, but my sons Greg and David were patient enough to listen to all my ideas and plans for this project. Thanks are often sent to professionals but the vital family support and encouragement are missed. I want to make sure that does not happen here. Finally, thanks to all those I interviewed as well as those people I visited with, either by phone or at radio shows. Without their input and support this book could never have happened.

Foreword... This is a fascinating journey through the world of emergency | services, conducted by our hobby’s most competent host. His law enforcement history gives Norm a unique view of events, and he shares his insights and experiences in a refreshing way. Written in the style of an involved and knowledgeable observer, Emergency Radio! travels to emergency services across our nation and beyond. And as you visit these services with Norm, pay close attention. The United States is a wonderful country, and it’s our federal and state law enforcement agencies, plus our local fire departments and medical support staffs, that we pay to keep it that way. They

protect

differentiates

our

way

us from

of life, and

provide

less fortunate

the security

societies. These

that

public

servants and their organizations are just as susceptible to rising costs of living as we civilians are, and emergency services are paid for only from taxes. If you want the best, you have to be ready to foot the bill. We all depend on these brave men and women, yet in these times of financial stress too many Americans automatically vote NO! when the ballot asks for funds to increase emergency services budgets. If we make that mistake, we'll pay the price of less support and rising crime rates. In recent polls, crime was seen as this country’s most important problem. You can meet the challenge by supporting Norm’s people, both on

the street and at the polls.

I hope that while you’re reading this book you hear a siren in the distance. That’s the signal that emergency services are at work, protecting you and your property from anarchy, disaster,

and chaos. And if you really want to know what’s happening, reach for your scanner.

Henry SCANNERS

L. Eigengon,

author of

& Secret Frequencies, and TravelScan

This book

is dedicated

emergency services personnel everywhere.

Norm

Schrein

to

Introduction Radio

That simple five letter word has developed into a multibillion dollar industry. On January 18, 1903, as he began transmitting a message across the Atlantic from Teddy Roosevelt to King Edward VII, little did Guglielmo Marconi know how his invention would develop and affect the lives of everyone. On that cold winter night from a remote beach near South Wellfleet, Massachusetts,

Marconi began messages.

the business

of transmitting

wireless

Marconi's operation would still be impressive by today's standards.

He used a total of four towers,

each 210 feet

high. A powerful generator and large transformers produced the power that would allow the messages to "skip" through space to remote places. The message from Teddy Roosevelt went from Marconi's transmitter site on Cape Cod across the Atlantic Ocean to Poldhu, England. Soon his station became very busy in the business of sending and receiving messages, at the cost of fifty cents per word, which back in that time was quite expensive. Others quickly found that radio could not only send messages from one point to another but that the messages could be broadcast from one central location to literally thousands of receivers within range of the transmitter. Thus began the radio broadcasting industry. Of course, radio broadcasting eventually led to television. Today, radio is still advancing.

We

now

use satellites to

convey broadcast programs as well as _ telephone conversations and digital communications. We have used radio to speak to men on the moon and to listen to far off galaxies.

EMERGENCY

10

RADIO!

The Listening Hobby

Because of the many aspects of radio, millions of people have become radio hobbyists of one type or another. Interest was initially sparked by the crystal radio and what seemed to be the magic of hearing voices and music coming out of nowhere. Eventually, others decided to use the airwaves to communicate with newfound radio enthusiasts and the development of Amateur Radio (also know as Ham Radio) began. Still others just enjoyed listening to short wave radio where there was (and still is) a wealth of information to be gained from those bands. Early in public safety communications, police departments operated just above the AM broadcast band. Many an evening was spent sitting in the parlor listening to the radio — not to the Jack Benny

Show,

but

to police calls

from the Los Angeles Police Department or to an assortment of public service agencies that operated in this band. Eventually, the police moved to frequencies that were better suited to their needs and the old "above the broadcast” frequencies were abandoned. Since folks were now "hooked" on tuning into emergency broadcasts, manufacturers began making receivers that would cover the new frequencies. I can remember some of my early receivers — the Regency MR-10 or the Electra "Little Tiger". Both provided a lot of fascinating listening to police, fire, and EMS (Emergency Medical

Service) calls. Eventually the receivers graduated

to crystal controlled units. Now, instead of having a dial to tune across the band, it was necessary to have a crystal which was tuned to the specific frequency or "channel" that was being used. Crystal controlled receivers had a distinct advantage over the tunable units in that they stayed on frequency and the reception was much better.

Scanning

news

as

it happens...

11

The one problem with a tunable or crystal controlled receiver was that it had to be manually tuned or switched from one frequency to another, Therefore listeners could only receive one frequency at a time and might miss out on activity occurring on another. Finally, Al Lovell, who founded the Electra Company, came up with a new and wonderful idea. He would take a crystal radio and let it automatically search through all the channels. This unit would "scan" through the frequencies defined by crystals plugged into the radio. Enthusiasts equipped with his radio had a much better chance to catch all the action.

The technology kept improving and eventually, with the aid of frequency synthesis (which allows many frequencies to be synthesized from a single crystal), it was no longer necessary to buy multiple crystals for the scanner.

All that was

needed

was

the new

radio, which

employed a key pad, and a knowledge of frequencies in the area. The scanner could now be programmed and reprogrammed as many times as the user wished. Since the price of crystals could add up, and it was a cumbersome job of switching them, most of the early frequencies that were scanned were of the emergency services. That was simply because they had most of the action. With the programmable scanner, virtually any two-way communication could be monitored.

Other firms soon got into the act by publishing frequency directories.

telephone

These

book

books

was

were

to

to the phone.

the

scanner

Again,

the

as

a

early

directories concerned themselves with the frequencies for police, fire, and ambulance. However, as time passed and

technology increased, the books started including other frequencies, such as listings for news media, marine radio, railroads, taxicabs, federal government, aircraft, and

businesses of all types and sizes.

|

EMERGENCY

RADIO!

Eventually those who owned scanners got together with others and small clubs formed. Scanning had now become a hobby. This book is a direct result of the scanner hobby. Many clubs came and went. In 1990 an idea was put forth to form a national scanning club complete with a newsletter. Thus was born the Bearcat Radio Club, which is now the largest organization of its type in the world. Their newsletter National Scanning Report is read by more serious scanner enthusiasts and beginners than any other club publication. Earlier versions of the stories in this book were originally published within the pages of the National Scanning Report magazine.

"Why would anyone get a scanner?" has been asked more than once. It is no more unusual to use a scanner than it is to get involved in automobiles or painting for a hobby. Certainly, listening to police and fire calls can be fun and exciting, but just as exciting is the rare opportunity to listen to a war directly from the front, or listen to someone trying to set up an illegal drug deal over their cordless telephone. We are an information society and we want to know what is going on around us. Since there are so many people "on the air" daily (with police, fire, business,

baby

monitors,

CB,

cordless

and

cellular

telephones, boaters, and even those placing a fast food order through a drive-through restaurant's speaker), radio information is all the more available. The Law

The

Federal

anyone

Communications

Act of 1934

may listen to any radio or television

stated that frequency

they wish. However, in the case of two-way communications, whatever they hear may not be relayed to a third party or used for their personal gain. When politicians and other high profile types had their cellular

Scanning

news as it happens...

135

telephone conversations taped (which always has been illegal), they got worried and passed another law called the Electronic Communications, Privacy Act of 1986. This law made it illegal to listen to cellular telephone calls. Radio enthusiasts immediately became worried that other parts of the spectrum might be deemed illegal. They worried that the federal government might take away their right to listen to their local radio or television broadcast station. Their reasoning, of course, has lots of problems. The folks

who were listening to these cellular calls (and they have been referred to as "technocreeps" by the cellular industry) and then telling their friends or worse yet tape recording the calls were in direct violation of federal law. They laughed at their critics and said there was nothing that could be done to stop them. It did not take a brain surgeon to figure out that they themselves were opening the way to the further legislation. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 was, in fact, a paper tiger. Although it said it was illegal to listen to cellular telephone calls, there was no way to enforce the regulation. Finally, the cellular telephone industry was able to get another law enacted to force scanner manufacturers to delete cellular coverage from their scanners beginning in late 1993. Not only did the manufacturers have to delete the coverage, they had to

ensure that those frequencies could not be easily restored. Additionally,

the

cellular

telephone

industry

is now

offering encrypted communications to their customers. Of course, they should have done this in the first place, but encryption adds to costs and they felt that revenues might be reduced.

In the long run, listening to cellular telephone conversations on a scanner will be a moot point since scanners will no longer include such coverage and

.

EMERGENCY

44

RADIO!

cellular telephones will not be able to be heard on the remaining scanners that do cover the cellular band. The fact remains that cellular telephones and cordless telephones as well as baby monitors are not secure for the most part. New cordless phones operate in the 900 MHz band, and are digitally encrypted. The manufacturers of these new products now include the privacy insurance for which the sender of radio messages has always been responsible. It’s too bad that a small minority of scanner radio enthusiasts who have specialized in illegally listening to telephone calls will be cut out of the loop. They brought the problem on themselves. Monitoring

Telephones aside, there is much interesting radio traffic to be heard on a scanner. Scanners are taken to NASCAR and USAC auto races in order to listen to the drivers and

their

support

communications radio repeaters

crews.

It 18 Wwery,

casy

0

slisten

to

with the Space Shuttle via amateur which rebroadcast the transmissions

during the missions. Needless to say, police, fire, and emergency communications always provide a lot of excitement.

The stories in this book are based upon situations that can be easily monitored on a scanner radio. There is plenty of excitement and information on the airwaves and a scanner can put you right in the middle. If you do not have a scanner, I strongly suggest that you obtain one. Also, pick up a frequency directory and join a scanning club

like

the

Bearcat

Radio

Club;

(P.O

.Bome291913;

Kettering, OH 45429 — 800-423-1331). Through the pages of scanning-related magazines you will get even more ideas on how to keep yourself informed in an informationhungry society.

Beatty and Cheney ..the REAL

Miami

Vice

Delta Force

Another Friday night in Miami, Florida. Members of the Miami Police Department's Task Force/Street Narcotics Unit are preparing for the evening's work.

‘Official Logo

of the

Miami

Police

Department.

Members call themselves "Delta Force" because they also can be ready for special operations in fifteen minutes. In January of 1988 they were called out to the Liberty City neighborhood to assist field officers who were pinned down by weapons

fire. When

the "Delta Force" arrived, it

16.

was

:

ambushed.

EMERGENCY

One officer said the situation

RADIO!

reminded

him of the U. S. invasion of Iraq. On another evening, "The Force" —within a period of just 45 minutes — got into three major shootouts in a three-block area. Police vehicles were riddled with bullets. In fact, in one incident, officers expended over 75 rounds of ammunition. On yet another occasion, the officers ran out of ammunition,

necessitating the dispatch of an officer to headquarters to obtain additional rounds. One officer was forced to steer

his vehicle with his knees while firing a shotgun out the driver's window.

This isn't TV — this is real life.

Their Job

"Delta Force" duties aside, members of the squad spend the majority of their time dealing with the drug problem in Miami.

The division

commander,

Lt. John E. Brooks,

said that his unit, which consists of 50 officers and eight squads, has several duties.

The officers perform undercover surveillance, stake-outs, and work a mid-level drug squad. This squad is known as "Intercept." They intercept moneys or narcotics being delivered within the city. This can amount to pounds of marijuana or kilos of cocaine. Miami probably has more drug traffic within its city limits than any other American city, but the majority of the narcotics are destined for other areas of the U. S. Therefore, it is the job of the "Intercept" officers to interdict the distribution of drugs through Miami. The Jump Out Unit

There is also the "Jump Out" unit. These officers work with street level buys and reverses (where an officer acts as a drug salesperson). They also do surveillance and search warrants.

Scanning

news

as

it happens...

es

Officers Robert Beatty and Ray Cheney start out their Friday evening watch examining equipment in the trunk . of their vehicle. Items they check out are flashlights, cameras, property tags, radios, and weapons. Shortly after 5:00 PM they leave the confines -of the Miami Police Headquarters and head out to the Overtown neighborhood.

Overtown is not only a high crime area, but also a location of high drug usage, especially crack cocaine. Within minutes Beatty and Cheney are responding with other officers to a neighborhood street corner. When they arrive, a team member is searching a subject on a street corner. It doesn't take long for a crowd to gather. This time nothing is found and the units proceed further into the neighborhood. Always Watch Their Hands

At approximately 5:45 PM, Officer Beatty spots a suspect ducking behind a stairway in one of the housing projects. "I never

look at their faces, but watch

their hands.

You

can always tell if they are trying to hide something by watching their hands," Beatty explains. Both Beatty and Cheney "jump out" of their vehicles and stop the individual by the stairs. Soon other units show up. The man insists he did not have any drugs, but he did sport a fistful of money. Beatty asks him what he threw over the fence, and the man responded that it was just a piece of paper.

While Beatty and Cheney detain and question the man further, the other officers search the area, looking under stairways, in trash cans, anywhere someone might hide drugs. Within five minutes an officer finds the drugs. What he found, just over the fence from where was standing, was $200 in crack cocaine. An

made, and the prisoner is placed in the vehicle.

the man arrest is

EMERGENCY RADIO!

18

In Tow

Beatty and Cheney do not go down to HQ to book this suspect,

however.

Instead,

with

their

prisoner

in tow,

they head off to another location where officers have been watching a suspicious male on a second floor balcony of an apartment complex. Via their Motorola 800 MHz trunked radio system, the officers set up their move. Once everyone is set, they all hit the complex at the same time. This time the suspect starts to run. Cheney gives chase and the man is spotted going into an apartment. Cheney is on the first level, but other officers have made it to the

second level and Cheney shows them the apartment into which the suspect fled. Officers enter and in a matter of minutes have another suspect lying face down, being searched. Nothing

is found

on him

either.

However,

the

female occupant of the apartment (who incidentally is the man's mother) is found with another bag containing approximately $200 of crack cocaine. Two more arrests are made and the search continues.

More stops are made. This time it is a group of males on a street corner, but nothing is found. It is now

time to take

the three offenders to the "lockup" and fill out reports. A Slow Night

This Friday night was a slow night with only three arrests, but officers say that it was due to the fact that they were "standing down" in case they were needed at a riot taking place in another part of town and that several officers were either in training or off duty. Normally, arrests average between 10 and 15 per night. The officers are quick to point out some of the drug dealer's tactics, including having a designated runner. When officers are seen approaching, one of the suspects takes off running. The drug dealers hope the officers will chase the one who is running, and sometimes they do.

Scanning

The

news

runner,

as

it happens...

of course,

will not have

19

anything

on

him.

The dealer with the goods will casually walk off. Since officers know this tactic, they do not always chase the runners. The officers of the task force certainly do face many dangers. They are working in a high crime area where anyone with a gun can take pot shots at them, and do so without provocation or warning. Some officers, acting as drug buyers, have been robbed by other criminals before they were able to pull off the buy. Also, some officers have been stuck with HIV positive needles. So far, no one has come down with the virus.

Officer

Cheney searches subject while Officer Beatty looks for discarded bag of drugs.

Officer Beatty will be quick to point out that all officers who work the task force are apprehensive about going out to do their duties. "There is not an officer on the team

EMERGENCY

20

who

has not been

shot at, had

to shoot

back,

RADIO!

or been

shot," he says. Even with all that in mind, they still keep on trying to win what seems to be an endless battle against street drugs. No Real Deterrent

It's easy to see that the dealers and those who buy drugs are not particularly deterred by the police. Officer Cheney says, "They are only deterred as long as we are there.’ However, the prisoner in the back of the squad car who is being driven all over the neighborhood and who watched his neighbors being stopped, searched, and sometimes arrested, was not happy about the situation. "Hey, I've got to live in this neighborhood, and you're taking me all over. They're going to think I'm some kind of a snitch,” he complains.

These officers have arrested all types of people for buying drugs. Their list is extensive. It includes the big and the small names of the community, tourists, and political officials. The city of Miami can be proud of these officers for fighting what seems to be a never ending battle. But at least there's job security. There's enough narcotics on the street to keep their "Jump Out" units in business for a long time to come.

Public Safety in Rural

America

Providing police and safety services in large metropolitan areas can be a tough task. The sheer numbers of people living in a particular geographic area present a lot of work for the many public safety agencies. Can we then conclude that public safety services provided in rural areas are less busy and thus less interesting and exciting? Not by a long shot. National Scanning Report had an opportunity to visit members of the Union County Sheriff's Office in Elk City, South Dakota.

es

The official!

logo of the

Union

County

Sheriff.

EMERGENCY

ce

RADIO!

Union County can certainly be considered a rural area as it only has a population near 10,000 souls covering an area of about 452 square miles.

The Sheriff's Office, commanded by Sheriff Dan Limoges, has three sworn officers — the sheriff and two deputies. There are also four radio dispatchers. The Sheriff and his deputies have to run the jail, serve legal process for the courts, and run a road patrol when time permits. Needless

to

say,

the

three

officers

work

long

shifts,

normally 12 hours a day, many times punching in 50 to 60 hours per week.

Chief

Deputy

Jody

Fry and

his cruiser.

Chief Deputy Jody Frye says that the number one crime in the county is theft, either burglaries of homes, machine

Scanning

newo

as

sheds, or barns. rustling.

it happens...

There

20

are even

cases

of cattle and

hog

/

Although the theft of farm animals is not an every day happening,

it does

occur

more

often

in Union

County

than armed robbery. In fact, Chief Frye can only recall one armed

robbery

in his

2 1/2

years

in the

department,

although there have been several farm animal thefts. The Chief

notes

that farm

families

other, but their homes

and

tend

barns

to look

after

each

are an easy target

because of the remoteness of the area. Also, the thieves know when to attack — most thefts occur weekends or at

night.

Unfortunately, Union County is not drug free. Frye said that they have had a lot of drug arrests. The arrests come from Interstate 29 which passes through the county. Generally,

those arrested

are not locals, but individuals

just passing through who have been stopped by Highway Patrol Officers for traffic related problems. The youth of Union County can be trouble for local law officials, but the problems generally occur in the summer months.

The

trouble

usually

involves

runaways,

thefts,

and vandalism. The jail at Union County can hold up to 13 prisoners. The day National Scanning Report was there, the jail had two inmates serving time for possession of marijuana or drug paraphernalia. Another prisoner was serving time for statutory rape. Two others were on a work release program involving their conviction on DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) charges. And another was in for theft. In rural America,

the Sheriff's

Office

and

jail serve

as a

"hang out" for other officers. Many times this becomes added help for the deputies who must wrestle inmates into the jail. It would not be unusual to find officers from the State Patrol or Elk City Police in close proximity to the

,

RADIO!

EMERGENCY

24

jail. In fact, the State Police has two

officers

who

live in

Elk City within earshot of the jail.

Notably absent from the county's list of crimes are morals violations. In fact, Chief Frye cannot remember making an arrest for prostitution or illegal gambling. Gambling is, however, allowed in South Dakota

as it is in Nevada

and

Atlantic City. The other police-type call that is a regular in the county is the domestic

violence

call. Just as in police districts

all

over the country, officers in Union County dread going on such calls. Many times signs of violence can be seen on the participants — anything from scratches to gunshot wounds. Union County also has a full complement

of volunteer

fire and ambulance crews. All fire and rescue calls are dispatched from the Sheriff's communications center. The

volunteer

fireman,

ambulance

crews,

and

police

officers work as storm spotters, too, with the Local Civil Defense Office when severe weather is in the area. Since

police can only talk to other police agencies

on their

channels (the same is true for fire and ambulance) they all

meet

on

the local Civil

Defense

channel.

Although

Union County is rural, hospital care is only a short helicopter ride away. Helicopter service is provided to county residents from hospitals in Sioux City, Iowa or Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Police officers, firemen, the Civil Defense director, as well as many residents carry scanners in their cars and have additional units running at home. Frye says that he has been stopped on many occasions by citizens on the street wanting to discuss what they heard on their scanners. Regular folks listening in on scanners do not bother the Chief. He says, "I know they are listening and keep that in mind when I'm on the air." Frye does have a problem with those who use scanners to evade the law, however.

Scanning

news

as

it happens...

eo

He remembers a time when he was trying to serve a’ warrant in North Sioux City. The man he was looking for kept a handheld scanner with him. When Frye radioed that he was in the area, the man simply walked across the bridge to Iowa and out of Frye's reach. Fortunately, individuals like this man

J

y

Chief

are the exception, not the rule.

L

Dispatcher

Ginny

Erickson.

Chief Dispatcher Ginny Erickson is kept busy not only with calls from the Sheriff's Office, but also with police officers

in

North

Sioux

City,

Jefferson,

Elk

Point,

miscellaneous fire and rescue crews, the county road crews, and the REA electric utility company. Just because the county is rural does not mean that the communications center is not state of the art. Several computer systems are on line to check for driver's license

26

EMERGENCY

RADIO!

data, warrant information, and_ stolen vehicle information. The department can also tap into the NCIC national computer network that has data on wanted

people and vehicles from across the country. Although circumstances may vary in rural areas, police and rescue units can be as busy as their urban counterparts. The work can be equally dangerous. Many times Jody Frye can recall stopping someone on a remote stretch of highway and having no backup anywhere near him. So far he has been lucky. Public safety in rural America is a demanding job for the few folks given the responsibility. But the officers protecting people and property in these areas are much like the rural farm families they serve; they look out for each other.

Saginaw Saturday Night SAGINAW, MICHIGAN - It is a cold Saturday night in December. As I drive into Saginaw, the scanner begins to come to life. Soon I am tuned in to some of the most interesting police activity that I have heard in quite a while.

Logo

of the

Saginaw,

Michigan

Police

Department.

8:03 PM - "Cars 23 and 24 respond to 5th and Janes on the report of a shooting," the dispatcher announces. Both cars answer, indicating that they are responding to the scene. 8:05 PM - "Car 24 to dispatch, we have one juvenile shot and the suspect has fled south on Janes from 58

RADIO!

EMERGENCY

28

8:08 PM - "Car 23 to dispatch, you better send another unit over here. We are drawing quite a crowd."

The dispatcher sends another unit to the scene and then asks, "Car 23, can you advise on the description of the suspect?” The officer from car 24 responds, "Subject is one Michael Mosley, black male, 18 years of age. He has fled south on Janes from 5th Street on a bicycle." 8:15 PM - "Car 23, advise

the medics

that the victim

has been shot in the stomach with what appears to be a .25 automatic. We have a few shell casings lying around here." 8:20 PM - The dispatcher sends Car 27 to the location of another shooting. She also sends another car to the same location to look behind the bushes "to find something, interesting. Vhe™ (hots mea call turnsout to be a false alarm but the "something interesting” in the bushes is a stolen car.

The radio transmissions continue in much the same manner throughout the evening. The main frequency of 155.010 (repeater output)/155.970 (repeater input) and the secondary frequency of 155.310MHz were constantly in use. I decided to visit police headquarters to see if what I was hearing represented a "normal" evening in Saginaw. The officers on duty quickly let me know that what I heard was typical. Crime runs high, say authorities, and monitoring further activity on the police frequencies confirmed this. I have monitored police in cities all across the country,

from

the Big Apple

to downtown

Chicago.

All of their frequencies combined have less interesting traffic than Saginaw's three. Saginaw, a place I once thought of as a sleepy Michigan town, took on a new meaning. On Sunday morning I ran across Officer Ed Gwizdala of the Saginaw Police Department who was just getting off

Scanning

news

as

it happens...

Zo

duty from the midnight shift. I asked him if there had been many shooting calls in the city that evening. He quickly checked his call sheet and told me that he personally handled seven shootings and nine fights. He was not sure how many calls were answered by other units.

Officer

Gwizdala

after

a

busy

Saturday

night.

Despite his rough night on the streets, Officer Gwizdala was very gracious, taking the time to show me his cruiser (which is his home for eight hours every night). It was then that I noticed his trousers had a rip in the knee and mud ground into the leg. I asked him how it had happened. Gwizdala said that they had a call about a fight between

two men. One man had already gone inside but the other was still standing in the street with a weapon when the officer

arrived.

The

man

was

told

to put the weapon

30

EMERGENCY

RADIO!

away, but he ignored the officers. "So when we went to arrest him, he took off. We

were

running

through

the

back yards and alleys. As I was running through a yard I

saw a fence coming up fast — I kind of did a slide into second base,” he explained.

I left police headquarters that Sunday morning with a heightened respect for the police officers of Saginaw, Michigan. They have all of the crime of a big city, packed into a small town. As I pulled out of the parking lot at police headquarters,

I wondered

how I would

feel after a

night of multiple shootings, fights, and high speed foot chases across dark, muddy backyards. My sympathy was with Officer Gwizdala. Tonight, the only injury he sustained

was

to a

pair

of

wondered, would he be as lucky?

trousers.

Tomorrow,

I

The Ontario Provincial

Police

Radio In Difficult Conditions

Mention the word "scanner" to many people in Ontario, Canada and they'll probably shift nervously, look over their shoulder, and quickly change the subject. It's popularly believed that it is illegal to own a scanner here. Stories of well-armed police who raid the homes of people who own scanners are told with relish. In fact, so strong is this popular misconception that most radio stores in the province refuse to sell any type of frequency directory for fear of bringing down the wrath of local law enforcement agencies. It's not that everyone in the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is working to dispel these fears. "I'll go out of my way to make sure that no one talks to you or gives you any information on our system," said Earl Gibson of the OPP's Telecommunications Project when contacted by phone. Though hardly a world-class diplomat, Mr. Gibson's concerns are real: the lives of OPP officers depend on their radios. Mr.

Gibson

aside,

the

officers

of the OPP

are

a very

friendly group of people and like police everywhere, more than happy to show off their equipment and share stories.

Tips and Tricks Until recently, the OPP operated on a group of low band frequencies in the 42 MHz region. Now the province uses

VHF but the system causes most scanners to "lock up." It

EMERGENCY

32

RADIO!

seems that some sort of noise is transmitted at all times, except when an officer is communicating on a frequency. As a result, the scanner

"hears" the officer but instead

of

the dead air that usually follows a transmission (and that "signals" the scanner to begin scanning again), it hears "noise" and refuses to go on. ’

Official

logo of the

Ontario

Provincial

Police.

The key to unlocking OPP communications is something called CTCSS (Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System). Every time an officer transmits, his voice is accompanied by a sub-audible tone at 107.2 Hertz. When the officer stops transmitting, the tone stops, too.

Scanners such as the Uniden BC 760, BC 890, or BC 8500 have a CTCSS tone board that can be programmed to stop only when it "hears" this 107.2 Hertz tone. Since the tone

Scanning

news

as

is not transmitted

goes back speaking. Radio

into

it happene...

along

"scan"

52

with

the

mode

"noise,"

when

the scanner.

the officer

stops

in the Far North

The OPP radio system is quite widespread, especially along the border with the United States. As one travels further

north,

and in some

transmitters

become

few and

far between

cases, nonexistent. Superintendent

John M.

LaForge is familiar with problems that can be encountered on the fringe of the radio communications system.

Radio

setup

inside

an

OPP

cruiser.

Last year, LaForge was involved in a manhunt at a place he describes as "the middle of nowhere." The actual search was conducted in an area of very dense brush approximately 10 miles south of Timmins. Timmins is

34

EMERGENCY

RADIO!

approximately 450 miles north of Toronto — nowhere. Here, radio coverage is spotty at best and an officer quickly learns to improvise. There were six K-9 teams, 24 SWAT (Tactics and Rescue Units), 2 helicopters, 6 pilots, and a 16 member ground

search group. Sixty other officers manned roadblocks. In order to coordinate the effort, radio signals from some members of the search party on the ground were relayed to a helicopter that hovered above.

Another antenna was lashed to the top of a spruce tree and at another place, space for an antenna was commandeered on a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) TV tower.

Operations in the Brush

The objects of all this attention and manpower were two brothers and a girlfriend who were suspected of a number of robberies. The trio had stolen a car in Calgary and headed for Ontario where the OPP spotted their vehicle. After a high-speed chase, the trio abandoned the car and headed out in the brush where they opened fire on a K-9 officer.

Eventually, one of the male suspects was wounded and quickly apprehended. A second male, also wounded, decided that it would be better to die than to be caught so he shot his girl friend to death with a 12 gauge shotgun blast to the chest and then turned the weapon on himself. Needless to say, the manhunt might not have been successful had it not been for the improvisation shown by the OPP's radio officers. Unusual

Conditions

At the OPP's "C" Division (which covers almost all of northern Ontario), there are even fewer radios. The

officers are equipped with a 4x4 vehicle that has a mobile

Scanning

news

as

it happens...

35

radio. The office has a base system. Together, it covers , only a few miles. / Here, the OPP works with the Elders of the First Nation (an Indian tribe). Officers are flown in for a 4 and 4

schedule — four days on duty and four days back home, weather permitting. Most arrests, says Chief Superintendent Joe Crozier, involve

alcohol and substance abuse.

Violators are locked up and then given a court date. Even the magistrate has to be flown in.

Many Frequencies The Ontario Provincial Police, while having some unusual operating conditions, are much like police everywhere. Their radio system may need a few "extras" to monitor but it does not present a problem to the radio enthusiast who is prepared. The OPP uses many frequencies throughout the area with 142.770/138.750 and 140.970 MHz being used on a province-wide basis. The complete listing contains hundreds of frequencies and is contained in the Betty Bearcat Canada Directory.

Contrary to rumor, the OPP is not kicking down doors at midnight and arresting horrified scanner users. Most of the officers say that they are aware that people are listening in and many officers admit to owning scanners themselves. After all, they say, why can't the police have a little fun, too?

May