DIGITAL POLICE SCANNER APP DOWNLOAD

Can you download a police scanner app? Policewoman holding an iPhone | Federico Gambarini/picture alliance via Getty Images These states are California, Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. But listening while driving your car through these states is likely illegal.įinally, at least five additional states have a law prohibiting the use of a mobile police scanner to help an individual commit another crime. Because these are older laws, it is not clear whether you can use a police scanner on your mobile phone, while in your own home, in these states. These states are Indiana, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, and New York. Secondly, at least five states allow home police scanners but prohibit unlicensed “mobile” police scanners. So if a person is using a police scanner to prevent police from doing their job-say evading police officers-then they are breaking the law. Overall, an individual can listen in from their home if they aren’t using police chatter to help them commit a crime.įirstly, it is illegal to “obstruct justice” in any way. This is because they hinge on how you are using the app. RELATED: Is It Illegal To Walk On the Highway?Īccording to NBC News, the laws surrounding police scanner apps for your phone are murky. Are police scanner apps legal? Police officer’s radio | Robert Alexander/Getty Images These streams are not limited by your location, so you could listen to any streamed police channel from Miami to Mendocino. With these apps, you can select a police scanner stream and listen in.

DIGITAL POLICE SCANNER APP SOFTWARE

Now, several software developers have released police scanner apps for your iPhone and Android. Anyone interested could listen to these from their own computers, just like they would listen to a home scanner. But there are some states that outlaw listening from your car.Įarly in the internet age, many home police scanner owners began to stream audio from their radios.

DIGITAL POLICE SCANNER APP INSTALL

In all 50 states, you can install a police scanner in your home and listen in. Most of the time, police departments, fire department, and ambulance crews use public radio channels to communicate. It may surprise you to know that it’s perfectly legal to listen to police radio channels. So yes, you can listen to real live police radio chatter on your phone while in your car. They do access internet streams uploaded by owners of home police scanners. They do not turn your cellphone into a radio. There are many police scanner apps available for your phone. Do police scanner apps actually work? Policeman holding an iPhone | Federico Gambarini/picture alliance via Getty Images Here is how police scanner apps work, and where they are illegal. Do you ever wonder what the police talk about on their radios while enforcing traffic safety and car safety? If you have an iPhone or an Android, you can listen in from your car.

Digital police scanner app