Sunday, February 5, 2012

Arlington Pulls the Plug on Analog Police, Fire, EMS Radio

Hello Yupette,

Turned on my 10-year old Radio Shack scanner yesterday to take a listen. Radio was scanning, but no audio heard. Turns out the County pulled the plug on analog police, fire, EMS dispatch on January 31st. So if you want to hear who done what to whom you will have to purchase a digital scanner - and they're expensive.

Before you do - all the good stuff (like cops talking to each other about the 'suspicious person' they've just stopped for driving through the X, Y, or Z neighborhood while Black) are on encrypted channels. So you won't hear any of that. Not like the good old days, when almost nothing was encrypted and I was alternately amused and horrified by what I heard.

Thanks for your blog.

Tom, 22205

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good old days - when the cops gave the name, date of birth, and social security number of a person they stopped for a traffic offense to the dispatcher, who then checked the national crime database for information about the person who was stopped.

Anonymous said...

Police, fire, and EMS only stopped giving out personal information over unencrypted channels about 3 years ago.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this thread. When I was younger I sometimes stayed awake until the bars closed on weekends listening to cop-to-cop conversations on Adam, Baker, and Charlie channels.

Anonymous said...

You could also occasionally hear undercover and tactical cops who were mostly following young male minorities around minority neighborhoods. Like - Jose' leaves apartment building on Pike, buys beer at convenience store on Pike, walks back to apartment building.

Anonymous said...

Then there were, and are, the false and malicious 'suspicious person' reports.

Anonymous said...

Zimmerman's ward heelers have refined the false and malicious 'suspicious person' report into an art form. For instance, if one of them sees you taking groceries out of your vehicle you get called in as a 'suspicious person' who is peering into vehicles on your street.

Anonymous said...

About 15 years ago I heard a hilarious side channel conversation about where's the best 10-20 (location) to park and coop (sleep on duty). Favorite place was in the rear of the Fairlington Community Center.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone else listen to what prompted the sudden retirement of the late great Chief Smokey Stover? An altercation with the Fairfax County Police.

Anonymous said...

No, but I heard enough on-the-air comments about Ed Flynn to soon realize he was a complete a$$hole.

Former CivFed Delegate said...

What would Smokey Stover have thought about the Arlington police putting out a dragnet for a woman who stole $100 from a drug dealer during a drug deal and another dragnet out for a guy who got into an altercation with a female escort in a hotel room? Have Arlington's police stopped enforcing laws against drug dealing and prostitution?

Anonymous said...

I stopped listening. All I ever heard was traffic accidents and incidents, shoplifting, domestic disputes, loud parties, and the local racists calling in 'suspicious person' reports for minorities trespassing in 'their' neighborhoods.

Anonymous said...

Are minorities still banned from the Barcroft Community Center. And do the police still enforce that?

Anonymous said...

I can go you one better. The Fairlington civic association has banned Fairlington residents who ask about its finances from its meetings. The police enforce that. The cops will attend its next meeting to hype residents' fear about non-existent crime. Of course, like most of Arlington, Fairlington has street lighting that would be an embarrassmemt in some third world countries.

Anonymous said...

The g-d streets are crumbling all over central and south Arlington and this is the only blog that even notices, much lass makes an issue of it. You would think the police and EMS paramedics who respond when bicyclists are injured because of broken pavement would be concerned.

Anonymous said...

Arlington police are concerned about finding the female customer who ripped off 100 dollars from a drug dealer last week.

Anonymous said...

Hell, Zimmerman's Bicycle Groupies have expressed no concern about the broken streets they want everyone to ride a bicycle on.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, Melissa Bondi is posting on ArlNow under a pseudonym trying to get negative posts about her deleted. Another Zimmerman Groupie who's the darling of local law enforcement.

Anonymous said...

Street lighting on Libby Garvey's street in Fairlington would be an embarrassment to a village in India.

Anonymous said...

Worst neighborhood for false malicious 'suspicious person' reports in Zimmerman's - Douglas Park.

Anonymous said...

Did you see the letter in the Post yesterday written by the upscale African American who has become a 'suspicious person' in his own Yuppified D.C. neighborhood?

Anonymous said...

It should be evident to everyone by now that all the County Board are racists, including Tejada.

Anonymous said...

Should also be evident to everyone by now Arlington Police Department and Fire Department are racists.

Anonymous said...

ACDC and ACRC ward heelers constantly report false and malicious information about people they don't like to the police. The Arlington Police Department's database is as corrupt as the department itself.

Anonymous said...

Anyone see the Fire Department recruiting for replacements for all its soon-to-be retired firefighters and EMS on the Pike?

Anonymous said...

CERTS are worse than the ward heelers. They're looking for another 9-11 to happen and reporting 'terrorist suspects' to law enforcement in the meantime.

Anonymous said...

Are there any minorities at all serving in the Patrol Division of the Arlington Police Department?

Qwerty said...

Anon., at least half the Patrol Division is 'cooping' between midnight and 5 AM Sunday thru Thursday, especially when it's cold and or raining.

Anonymous said...

Good old days - listening to cops talking back and forth over Channel 1 Baker and making up a story to tell the Magistrate about some minority kid who they caught trespassing on a street in a white neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

What do Jim Schwartz and Doug Scott care? Two more non-resident department heads. Arlington is just a big paycheck.

Anonymous said...

Arlington police do not like minorities at all. Many if not most female officers consider all men to be actual or potential rapists and abusers of one variety or another. The police believe everything Zimmy's Community Leader Groupies tell them.

Anonymous said...

Non-resident police who hate residents they are supposed to 'protect and serve'? One party has controlled the entire local government for 30+ years? County government is increasingly a nanny regime? Both parties use the police to settle grudges and intimidate anyone who doesn't go along with the program? Media not only goes along with it, but promotes more of the same? What else is new in Arlington?

Anonymous said...

As an Arlington Yuppie who hit bottom and either checked him/herself into Dominion Hospital, or was checked in by family, about drugs in Arlington.

Anonymous said...

Right, only time Joe or Jane Yuppie come to terms with overuse of 'controlled substances' is when they hit bottom or overdose and enter rehab. It's the Arlington Way of Yuppie Life.

Ted said...

County's a mess, and it's gonna get worse.