How A Police Radio Won the Internet Friday

Anyone who’s ever worked at a local newspaper can tell you, the real “breaking news” is often heard on police scanners. And, with right kind of radio, it is perfectly legal to listen in on how cops on the beat and firefighters conduct their business. Listening to the scanner is often how reporters and camera crews know where to go when there’s a story breaking.

According to Arik Hasselhalh at All Things Digital the scanner in question was set up in an anonymous home in Framingham, Mass. The owner had inexplicably placed his radio in the bathroom at the base of the toilet, trained a live Webcam on it, and streamed it to Ustream.

Police scanners are so common that enthusiasts have been streaming live audio from the airwaves to the Internet for years. And apps that tap these livesstreams are common on iOS and Android devices.

Here’s what the live audio of the capture sounded like. The audio below lasts three and a half minutes, and begins with some routine-sounding traffic. At about the 50-second mark, you’ll hear someone say, “no other elements on the boat, HRT only,” referring to a hostage rescue team that had been called in, presumably to talk to the suspect and negotiate his surrender, if necessary. Then there’s a long, agonizing silence, broken up by indistinct radio noise. At about the 2:45 mark, you’ll hear the first reference to “still a hot scene,” followed by the confirmation “suspect in custody,” and a call for a medic. The cheering of local residents started soon thereafter.

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