What's Happening In Your Neighborhood?

Back on February 2, 2006, I wrote on this blog about the police scanner that got me involved in law enforcement. Ultimately, I went back to school and got degrees in Evidence Technology and Pre Law / Court Management.

Having worked with The San Diego Police Department, The Chula Vista Police Department and The District Attorney's Office of San Diego County, I have seen and heard a lot! But it is always interesting to listen in on what is happening in my neighborhood today.

While crimes happen during the day, without question, a lot more seem to happen at night! I recall going on a ride-along with one of the Chula Vista officiers and witnessing everything from kids hanging out in parks drinking, traffic stops where the driver's license had been suspended and calls of "man with a gun" (which turned out to be a BB gun.)

Things like that still seem to happen today at night. Two nights ago, I heard a call about a 19 year old girl threatening suicide because her parents would not allow her to move in with her boyfriend. Another call was about vandalism on street signs. Still more calls focused on domestic violence.

Even though we all think our own neighborhoods are relatively safe... they really are not. If you get yourself a scanner and tune it to your local police department's frequencies, you'll hear for yourself. A lot of things happen throughout the day, but a lot more things seem to happen at night.

Another reason I like listening to the scanner at night is because it has a lot less noise. Besides police frequencies, I also have the scanner programmed to other frequencies like ambulance companies, fire dispatchers, hospitals, etc. All of these get calls. And because the scanner will react to any call, it always sounds like a lot is happening during the day. But at night, it seems most calls are only police calls. And these calls have less static noise as well.

Newer scanners are available which allow you to program them to play certain types of calls only. For instance, perhaps you only want to hear police frequencies. Just make a "playlist" of those frequencies and that's all you'll hear. Or perhaps you want to hear just calls from the fire departments in the area. No problem.

Get yourself a scanner and keep track of what's really happening in your neighborhood. While you can read the "police blotter" section of your local newspaper to see which homes have been burglarized or which cars got vandalized, you'll get to hear all a lot more than are reported in those newspaper columns.