As an American it is so weird you can be prosecuted for listening to wireless radio transmissions. To me if it's floating around in public it's fair game. When I was a kid I had a great-aunt & great-uncle who had bought a commercial police radio band receiver and frequently had it on scanning through channels and picking up calls. They did this almost as much as they watched tv. Sometimes it felt like they had it on simply for the white noise effect of breaking up the silence instead of just a radio tuned to talk or music. I think they enjoyed hearing what was officially going on around them in their moderate sized town.
It demonstrates the authoritarianism inherent in British culture. The idea that radio transmissions can be 'unauthorised information' would probably not happen these days but we are stuck with laws from 100 years ago
I used to run a pub in Birmingham, we had a break in once the police attending spotted my scanner and asked what I used it for? I explained that I listened to the doormen of the pub incase any trouble broke out. But I was miffed at the time they were more interested in the scanner than the fact I had been burgled 😏
Wow, sounds unreal that unencrypted radios could be illegal to listen to or that you need a license to watch unencrypted tv over the air. It's like a dystopian movie gone wrong for a long time.
When I first became a Radio Amateur in about 1980. I got pulled by a police officer whose opening words were “you know it’s illegal don’t you?”. My car had about four different aerials on it. When I enquired as to what was illegal he replied “CB radio”. I then told him it was amateur radio on the 2m band and perfectly legal. He didn’t believe me and radioed in for clarification. It took him a while as his aerial was not far from the one I had in use, the microphone was under my leg with the PTT held down! I let him struggle for a while and released mic. He then came back and told me everything was in order. He then had a the nerve to try and check the car over, I told him I would complain of harassment and he then left pretty quickly after that, good job the car was a dog.
@@michaeljohndennis2231 Just like what went down in the recent election debacle in the fourth world nation situated between Canada and Mexico; the one that is delusionally masquerading as a first-worlder, with nukes.
I remember being able to tune a standard FM broadcast receiver to 107-108MHz and pick up police and fire transmissions on that. So pretty much everyone in the UK with an FM broadcast receiver could have been caught up in this silliness. It was a regular occurence for kids to "chase" the local fire engines when they were called out, all picked up on a transistor radio.
If you knew what you doing You could Remove the lock Thead glue or Wax and mod the Tuner variable Capacitors Tuning Discs And Tuning plates to be a little lose to get more upper and lower ranges even some Screwy hidden Side Band that Armys & hams use for invisible comms with older sets Will show on SDR & Signal Analyzers but not to other set users Were they can't Slip the Plates & Disks
I remember sitting in my cousin’s house in Shrewsbury in the late seventies/early eighties listening to police broadcasts on FM and one of the officers asking if any colleagues were in the Harlescott area and could check if his stored caravan was safe!
I was out in a company van in 1987, that had one of the rotary tune FM radios fitted, and was close to Newbury in Berkshire and having lost the signal of the radio station I was tuned to started to move the tuning dial to find a new music station and as I did I come across that I later found out to be a local police frequently and heard the words" he is shooting at us, we are reversing away" I had tuned in to the police car that was first on seen at the Hungerford massacre in nearby Hungerford !, and was being shot at. and it all unfolded on my standard car radio.
Like the defence stated. Since it's illegal, the public should not be able to buy such instruments. Since you can lawfully buy radio scanners and tune to all stations, scanning and listening to EVERY frequency should be legal.
@crazyunclebob6901 Perhaps, I know nothing about the topic before this video. I googled such products and they're readily available. Now, I'd ask the police, "what do they people are going to do with scanners if not tune into your frequency" ? To me It's a flawed law. Almost setting people up to be prosecuted for the inevitable.
@ MHLivestreams What’s the significance of 31 Dec 1972 please? This is a genuine enquiry btw and I’m keen to learn more. (Yes, I know I could look it up but it’s Friday night, I have a drink in hand and I can’t be bothered.) Have a great weekend everyone.
I remember that in the 1960s almost everything you did in the UK relating to telecommunications seemed to be a ‘crime’. My little sister was given a transistor radio and picked up a police channel and had it taken off her by my hysterical mother as she’d committed a crime! I got two toy battery phones connected by bell wire. Me and kid next door ran it over the fence into to our bedrooms in our houses only to have them confiscated by my mother who said it was a crime under the Post Office Act. Our normal GPO landline stopped working and I unscrewed the cover of the junction box to see if any wires had come loose, only to discover that I’d just committed another crime. I spoke to a telephone engineer years later and he confirmed that all three incident were technically ‘crimes’ at that time!
The burden of proof appears to be an illegal reverse onus, the police failed to prove that he was actually listening. These charges are very difficult to prove.
Yes, the establishment has always been frightened of the people. There were taxes in the 19th century that prevented cheap newspapers being sold as the government feared mass media would incite the working class to revolution.
Skegness, Blackpool, Rhyl, Sheppey (the Isle of .. which I know well). I think this video says as much about life in these coastal areas as it does about the law.
Listening in its self shouldnt be a crime, but should be if the person is committing a crime or suspected of committing a crime. Purely listening shouldnt be an issue, but if you're breaking another law: then it should be considered. If someone is a licensed radio operator, works with broadcast, radio or commercial: then i dont see a problem with it. If a guy is caught racing and has a police scanner: no doubt he was using it to evade police.
@johngraesser4911 most of those states have exemptions for amateur radio operators. And in those states, it's only illegal when the vehicle is in motion.
Hi Lewis! I remember as a boy growing up in the Midlands, listening to the local Police around Walsall at the top end of the FM broadcast band, also, occasionally early cordless phones! Not if they were "direct" or spurious signals. I was also pondering how long its going to take Starmer to reintroduce the £15 CB licence fee to help plug his 22Billion black hole! 😂😂😂
my old man used to tell me the difference between here and the US is in the US assume its legal unless you are told it isn't while here assume its NOT legal unless you are told it IS there may be some truth to that!!
It must be really nice that British police have nothing better to do than to arrest people listening to scanners. Here in the US, our police are too busy chasing down house break-ins, stolen cars, shoplifting, drug deals, and shootings.
most of these scanners were found because they were called to the place on other matters that could have been any of the things you mentioned. they weren't exactly actively searching houses for scanners haha
We WISH they were doing such good things. Some U.S. police are Actually busy raiding the wrong house for drugs, stealing cars by having them towed from legal parking spaces, confiscating hard-earned cash citizens are carrying so they can buy things, and committing various other violations of Constitutional rights.
This is an area where America has better laws IMO. Anything that is broadcast via radio can be legally received, and it's the responsibility of the transmitting party to secure the information if they are authorized to do so. Police/Fire/EMS scanning was a common hobby here up until most of the comms became scrambled/digital.
Better laws? LOL. America would rather see a continuation of school shootings than provide free medical for all. Yeah much better for the few. And you think your not under a dictatorship...
In Australia back in the 1980’s a prosecution for Interception of a radio message failed when court accepted that Interception did not occur as the message was not prevented from reaching its intended destination. It resulted in the old radiotelegraphy act being reviewed and replaced by the radiocommunication act. Scanners are not illegal here in Australia I’d also ask why don’t you have to prove you have a licence to buy a car? Losing your licence doesn’t prevent you buying a car
I used to listen to police/emergency dispatch through an app on my iPad. It wasn’t like listening to undercover cops or police raids, but it was still pretty entertaining. I think a lot of police departments protested over time so there aren’t as many that you can listen to online these days. One time I had to call police for a minor neighborhood incident (some dodgy stuff went on fairly often there) and accidentally still had the app playing on my iPad when the cop came to my door -and heard it. Oops! But I’m not sure it was playing the local police dispatch, it may have been another city. If I had been in the UK I imagine I would have been arrested?
@@VultureUk-Rich Britain tends to have a bad habit of killing obsolete technology to save money on the infrastructure and banning the technologies they use themselves, this however means that if anything happens there is no legal or effective way of maintaining social order or communicate with civilians in affected areas in emergencies
The one in Oldham (Crimeside as we called it) I wonder if my dad was one of the magistrates as he was a magistrate at Oldham around then. No way of really knowing though as magistrates used to just work in their free time, From memory I think my dad used to do a Wednesday as it was his day off.
Only for tweets advocating violence, assault and other criminal offences, for which most of the accused pleaded guilty. NB This is a radio-related channel so let’s not stray off-topic, please.
@@UKRO404 You tossed out your NB by engaging the conversation. And people have been arrested and charged over memes. It's all interpretation of the context. You have NO FREE SPEECH. HAHAHAHAHA!
@@UKRO404 and most of them plead guilty because they were told that if they didn't they'd be put on remand and the book would be thrown at them. Given that many of them actually couldn't believe that they would get sent to prison for the things that they'd done (which in many cases were fairly innocuous (and others as if to prove my point, who didn't plead guilty just won their cases) - they plead guilty (most were just ordinary people, never been in trouble before)..... and then the law/gov decided to go mental releasing actual criminals so that others could be jailed for things they said and posted. If you'd bother to look into some of these cases rather than just swallowing what the gov and mainstream media tell you to think you might be a bit better informed. NB: You decided to reply and show your ignorance so you're fair game.
@ gug1970 I accept I made a faux pas with my NB and ensuing comments. OTOH, you’ve made some very sweeping assertions about the judicial procedure that led to so many convictions. Please cite your source(s). I’m genuinely interested btw and look forward to any clarification you can offer. Maybe you can provide grounds for appeal against some or all of the convictions, rather than merely voicing your anger. I look forward to hearing from you.
I find it interesting that most of these people didn't realise it was illegal to listen to a police transmission, but the real question is why did the police have a warrant or reason to search their house. Surely not because they had a scanner. PS. The voice sounds better Lewis 👍
@@andrewcoupe9528 UK Law = We will do whatever we want, and pretend we're a reasonable society while being a dystopian clown. There you go, I solved UK law for you.
These stories are great! I cannot imagine being stoned out of one's gourd and the Police show up to do a shakedown of a radio 😂 Thankfully we had no such law against listening and the Police had DVP encryption on certain channels when most others were analogue FM. So you could listen to all but the real juicy stuff and not break any interception law.
So many scanner stories to tell about the US scanner laws Lewis but, most of the laws now allow their use, except in the commission of a crime...We hams were mostly given a pass in those days...
Most people were not just hams prosecutions were very low, yes ok I was more than 10 times but I was at demonstrations passing info to those involved, was also informing media, was there at bombings, royal and military events, sporting events loaded up with royal protection, special branch military intelligence and lots more, I took the risk lost radios, and just got more Was on royalty protection collater list, so my photos and details were given, one day was doing scanning on bus nr Victoria Station, trooping the colour so I stayed using buses when my name and he's under admiralty arch came up, well I knew wasn't me, they got him and it was queen mums chef in the crowd lol When Buckingham Palace first opened I joined queue st James Park, men in black came up said your mot going on there King if Jordan visited one day bp, gate officer at no said mib want to talk to you, I stood there 20 minutes, was never held so was odd, asked officer what's going on he said soryy was only joking lol By that time I wss not on the collater list anymore was classed as safe they knew I had my scanners and was listening, when arrested 2009 under terrorism act they checked me with special branch and they cleared me, and was taken off terrorist arrest charge
amusing isn't it at one time i had the frequencies of the entire west midlands force including a most of the links at my fingertips and listening to some of the staggering ineptitude was always entertaining little wonder they got so salty about being monitored :) Then came encryption (when they remembered to activate it!! ) then came Tetra Airwave and fun went away.
Back in the early 1990's a Radio Ham Police Officer on night patrol partnered with a Special Constable (who just happened to work at the then GCHQ station at Cheadle) . The Officer had read the book Spy catcher by Peter Wright where a technique known as "Raftering", listening to the local oscillator of a receiver was mentioned, had a hand held scanner tuned 10.7 mhz above and below Uhf Police frequencies. Subsequently. When a carrier was found local Officers would do a pretend raid on the nearby address Co ordinate by Police Radio . It was amazing how quickly the bathroom lights immediately came on and the toilet heard to flush by somebody nearby. Wonder what was flushed down the toilet😂
Never keep police and fire frequencies stored in your scanners. Less chance of showing you have monitored the services. Now what about SDR receivers? Some are capable of wideband reception and just one click of a mouse will put you on a particular frequency in no time flat.
or on the way back to the office you can program in a few police frequencies and document the voice of your colleague to make sure the charges stick....
In Canada in the 90s , every time I'd go to my grandmother's house , I would listen to the scanner . I wasn't very old before they switched to dual digital encrypted. Still had fire and ambulance I to the 2000s . Now I can pick up the weather , and that's about it.
@@andrewcoupe9528 did you mean to reply to this comment? Your reply is irrelevant to my observation about the hilariously specific and ridiculously dumb 'street value' of half a spliff as reported in the video
I know a girl who just had her ex done for domestic violence and he got less of a charge than the person who was listening to the scanner in his van lol.
One truly awesome aspect of UA-cam channels from Britain is that even the likes of amateur radio nerds tend to have frigging awesome music as their channel theme. Like the jungle tune on this one. American channels in contrast in variably have thrash guitar rock music.
Yes it does and sir, marine commercial pmr it's just never used much in past or today even less, these stories are handful of what millions of people use to listen to police, often in the street open at incident even and no arrests I still go to incidents and listrn to fire handhelds chat to fire officers etc have no issues
Thanks so much for this incredibly thorough series of cases involving scanners. I note that almost without exception every case involved a scanner sound to be tuned to police frequencies. Some other notable similarities. In not a single case did the person found with a scanner tuned into police frequencies say that they tuned it in! It was always a mate, or a digit itself, or I bought it and it was already to did like that. None of them seems to have admitted knowing it was illegal to listen in this way and none of them ever admitted it was anything but a bit of fun!I’m also highly amused by how many of them were sprung because the police were in their presence and they had neglected to turn the scanner off so the police heard themselves thereby alerting them to the presence of something they would not have known
if a rdf radio if available, they can pick up the internal signals of the radio'. the same sort of tech was used during wwii to find illegal radio receivers in occupied europe.
I Australia, we used to listen to a scanner on a Friday night listening to all the calls regarding drunks and other funny calls. When thely switched to digital it ended that entertainment.
1:17 the buttons on that device remind me of hitachi. obviously the radio is another brand but i wonder if any other viewers are ocd enough to feel nostalgia for those tiny rubber buttons? what devices and brands did you use them on as a child/adult/teenager etc. ? 😄
In the early 1970's our local police station got a radio transmitter installed on the roof of the station, no problem except our shiny new automatic washing machine picked up the broadcasts ! I know hard to believe but the metal body was acting as a speaker. turns out our flat was on the same level as the transmitter and in an exact straight line and the distance and frequency was perfect to cause the issue. The original Suggestion of the GPO was that we have the washing machine moved or face prosecution, even the Glasgow police did not like that plan and I know the washing machine was never moved but eventualy police radio traffic stopped be a feature of it.
Remember "Threshers Offlicens" Brand (That's how long ago). Listening on My Tandy Realistic a report of a UFO Hovering over Local "Thresher" came in on Police Frequency. I must add I did not attend for a look. 😂🥂👍
The nature of a scanner being what it is. If a police officer, carrying a police radio that is switched on, picks up a scanner, isn’t the scanner going to tune to the frequencies of the police officer’s radio as the are usually repeating at some level? How are people in the UK allowed to use SDR tech like usb dongles? Gotta love how the crimes are named…” Going Equipped…” Some in the US might wear that as a badge of honor.
I've used scanners to record "in ear monitors" at concerts. I'm wondering now if I've dodged my collar being felt on many occasions now! phew! Something I'll need to consider seriously in the future I think!
Are these types of arrests still happening? How common are they? If it is such a big a problem, why doesn't the UK simply ban the import and ownership of these scanner devices? I am staring to question the intelligence and integrity of the British people!
Where I live felons aren't allowed to have scanners for many years after conviction. As defined in law that could include a Baofeng in areas that still use analog for police. There are a few departments still on analog here although it's very rare. Theoretically it might even include a phone with a scanner app.
@crazyunclebob6901 really? Considering intent is one of the most important parts of a criminal conviction, it appears you don't know much about the legal system.
As I understand UK listening is technically legal and instantly becomes illegal when any USE of information. That includes admitting had received it and often the only evidence available.
One case at bow street magistrates I spoke up for myself and judge was impressed with my knowledge on it, he admonished the officer for bringing it to court, I was listening to protection freqs nr Whitehall when a major summit was going on, sat discreet but had to change batteries in park and hadn't noticed officer coming by me Wasn't fined praised by judge but he had to follow met police wanting radios confiscated
As said we added freqs to database made public, I did files on royal family and government callsign and we had no trouble at all on that On here METPOL 701 my id, that's the callsign for every prime minister, every monarch is purple 1
I was getting brown envelopes from police radio engineers, police controllers, serving officers, raf and mod, radio communications agency enforcers callsign channels freqs
Though in fact much I had worked out myself like the main u uhf channels standard home office set up, with some regional differances, old storno met vhf robbery squad, seg, protection channels simplex looted in 147 mhz so when I got a full storno ch list it matched mostly what I had guessed, I found uhf protection 450 mhz etc sane way Ch32 451.95 ch33 452.4 knew firearms 452.375 so said ok who else is 451.975 to 452.. 35 sure enough shook hands with Edward millennium eve at southbank and got protection on 451.975 mhz another one added to my database
Ch7 451 325 though cid ops was also protection as well, even ex president Clinton out guys were in ch7 and mi5 hq surveillance, fire brigade had 451. 4 but at time of saw nimrod the siege they were told to use other channels, in other wires SAS were using 451. 4 on the Iranian embassy siege Was so good gleaning information in the old days Even today protection forget if on another event net like Farnborough airshow dmr where I had metpol701A and e on 457 mhz event net from outside the airfield and inside with pm position and where next etc, they hadn't realised they were on non secure radios
в ссср нквд тоже запрещало иметь радио во времена войны и если бы они пришли с обыском и нашли дома радиолампу то владелец отправлен валить лес на каторгу. Там умерло много людей. А теперь мусора в 21 веке опять вешают вину на людей ?
While I realize the laws governing radio communications can vary from country to country, I had no idea the UK Laws were so restrictive. If the use of scanners & radio receivers was so illegal, why do the locals laws allow the sale of the receiving equipment in the country to begin with? It almost sounds like entrapment by the authorities. Perhaps a guaranteed revenue source, like red light cameras?
ham radio operators are normally allowed to own the equipment. here in texas hams are even allowed to operate while moving while non hams would get a ticket if they aren't operating hands free.
I'd love to move back to the UK someday, but right now it feels like it has become a bit of an anachronistic Orwellian nightmare. Criminalized cannabis? Thought crime? Wow.
Incredible use of resources.. sigh... Let us hope there are more stories that we don't hear about.... where they have prevented actual crimes? I dunno...
What real culprits lol? They're legal outside of the dystopian police state. The courts should go after the ridiculous laws that make them illegal, but again, the dystopia isn't going to just fix itself.
Some police forces and local councils in some areas want to carry out regular property inspections and regular searches on council properties of those living alone as they assert that even possession of a scanner is illegal in council properties and is deemed as “illegal activity” even if it is not suspected that someone has a scanner - this is not even based on suspicion or any tip-offs, it’s just general police and council harassment of single people living alone because they can, especially if they are far-left and ideologically driven, as single people living alone are easy targets and easier to control, as police/council don’t want them living in their properties and/or area
@@RingwayManchestermay be something to the demographics of those areas. I bet a few were could in the Metropolitan area but there is no information to go on.
No the law is not crazy, but the law is you can listen. But the kicker is using the info you hear on any police channel. Very hard to prove you wernt useing for nefarious purpose, specifically to do with drugs around ,many amateurs would have the police bleed over there radios as they drove past ,very annoying especially when doing a RAYNET exercise in the 70,s 😂 anyhow great program keep it up..
@RingwayManchester sorry but your have to go in to the details of the the radio telegraph acts they had back then theres a lot of law details to drag through which horrible to say i did,being old school nd not wanting to break the law . Old school radio and tv engineer qualified also annel retentive probably still am, maybe some of the old gen who laboured over the law on this subject would like speek on this Q
Overwise how would you work on there equipment that was bad cos of the way they treated it, ?? It was always about the details in the radio telegraph act. There were a lot i can tell you that
As an American it is so weird you can be prosecuted for listening to wireless radio transmissions. To me if it's floating around in public it's fair game. When I was a kid I had a great-aunt & great-uncle who had bought a commercial police radio band receiver and frequently had it on scanning through channels and picking up calls. They did this almost as much as they watched tv. Sometimes it felt like they had it on simply for the white noise effect of breaking up the silence instead of just a radio tuned to talk or music. I think they enjoyed hearing what was officially going on around them in their moderate sized town.
I do that at work with a police scanner app on my phone.
It demonstrates the authoritarianism inherent in British culture. The idea that radio transmissions can be 'unauthorised information' would probably not happen these days but we are stuck with laws from 100 years ago
I used to run a pub in Birmingham, we had a break in once the police attending spotted my scanner and asked what I used it for? I explained that I listened to the doormen of the pub incase any trouble broke out. But I was miffed at the time they were more interested in the scanner than the fact I had been burgled 😏
One can but wonder what they're hiding.
That's why you should NEVER allow them into your home as their eyes are everywhere...
Wow, sounds unreal that unencrypted radios could be illegal to listen to or that you need a license to watch unencrypted tv over the air. It's like a dystopian movie gone wrong for a long time.
Well it's either bored Kent's like us listening
Or its criminals
easier to nick you and chalk up a win than actually find the person who burgled you. low hanging fruit....
Imagine being so inept that you have to arrest people for over-hearing what you've said.
When I first became a Radio Amateur in about 1980. I got pulled by a police officer whose opening words were “you know it’s illegal don’t you?”. My car had about four different aerials on it. When I enquired as to what was illegal he replied “CB radio”. I then told him it was amateur radio on the 2m band and perfectly legal. He didn’t believe me and radioed in for clarification. It took him a while as his aerial was not far from the one I had in use, the microphone was under my leg with the PTT held down! I let him struggle for a while and released mic. He then came back and told me everything was in order.
He then had a the nerve to try and check the car over, I told him I would complain of harassment and he then left pretty quickly after that, good job the car was a dog.
Not being able to use a radio scanner in the UK is kind of Orwellian. Almost like they don’t want police accountability.
It is insane that people just accept this kind of nonsense and there are actually those who defend it!
@bltvd yes, people in the UK seem very compliant towards authority.
Bullies have always won and bullies always will win - reality of life
We are allowed though this is nonsense we are allowed to own and listen to any frequency we like. 👍👍
@@michaeljohndennis2231 Just like what went down in the recent election debacle in the fourth world nation situated between Canada and Mexico; the one that is delusionally masquerading as a first-worlder, with nukes.
I remember being able to tune a standard FM broadcast receiver to 107-108MHz and pick up police and fire transmissions on that. So pretty much everyone in the UK with an FM broadcast receiver could have been caught up in this silliness. It was a regular occurence for kids to "chase" the local fire engines when they were called out, all picked up on a transistor radio.
in the 70ties and early 80ties that was possible
If you knew what you doing
You could Remove the lock Thead glue or Wax and mod the Tuner variable Capacitors Tuning Discs And Tuning plates to be a little lose to get more upper and lower ranges even some Screwy hidden Side Band that Armys & hams use for invisible comms with older sets
Will show on SDR & Signal Analyzers but not to other set users Were they can't Slip the Plates & Disks
I remember sitting in my cousin’s house in Shrewsbury in the late seventies/early eighties listening to police broadcasts on FM and one of the officers asking if any colleagues were in the Harlescott area and could check if his stored caravan was safe!
Tes i remember normal radios could pick up the police and fire it was normal back then.
I was out in a company van in 1987, that had one of the rotary tune FM radios fitted, and was close to Newbury in Berkshire and having lost the signal of the radio station I was tuned to started to move the tuning dial to find a new music station and as I did I come across that I later found out to be a local police frequently and heard the words" he is shooting at us, we are reversing away" I had tuned in to the police car that was first on seen at the Hungerford massacre in nearby Hungerford !, and was being shot at. and it all unfolded on my standard car radio.
I’m sorry to hear you still sounding slightly poorly Lewis. Get well soon and thanks for the great videos.
Like the defence stated. Since it's illegal, the public should not be able to buy such instruments. Since you can lawfully buy radio scanners and tune to all stations, scanning and listening to EVERY frequency should be legal.
Should and is are two different things.
@crazyunclebob6901 Perhaps, I know nothing about the topic before this video. I googled such products and they're readily available. Now, I'd ask the police, "what do they people are going to do with scanners if not tune into your frequency" ? To me It's a flawed law. Almost setting people up to be prosecuted for the inevitable.
We use scanners all the time here in Michigan. The only restriction is we can't use police scanners to aid the commission of a crime.
Ummmm...well, as long as you do your crimes without committing any crimes, you're golden, I guess.
When listening is a crime. You are no longer a citizen, your a subject.
What makes you think ANYONE in England besides the queen/king ISN'T a subject? And what makes you think You aren't a subject?
@@crazyunclebob6901 nobody's been a subject since Dec 31st 1972
@@MHLivestreams Well, unless you're in a photograph shown in the Faces category on Bullseye. Then things get complicated.
@ MHLivestreams
What’s the significance of 31 Dec 1972 please?
This is a genuine enquiry btw and I’m keen to learn more. (Yes, I know I could look it up but it’s Friday night, I have a drink in hand and I can’t be bothered.)
Have a great weekend everyone.
@@UKRO404 it's when Britain entered the eec under the guise of a trade agreement, which was a precursor to the EU.
I remember that in the 1960s almost everything you did in the UK relating to telecommunications seemed to be a ‘crime’. My little sister was given a transistor radio and picked up a police channel and had it taken off her by my hysterical mother as she’d committed a crime! I got two toy battery phones connected by bell wire. Me and kid next door ran it over the fence into to our bedrooms in our houses only to have them confiscated by my mother who said it was a crime under the Post Office Act. Our normal GPO landline stopped working and I unscrewed the cover of the junction box to see if any wires had come loose, only to discover that I’d just committed another crime. I spoke to a telephone engineer years later and he confirmed that all three incident were technically ‘crimes’ at that time!
The burden of proof appears to be an illegal reverse onus, the police failed to prove that
he was actually listening. These charges are very difficult to prove.
Well done RM. Your research efforts are well received!
UK has always been a Police State.
Sickening terrified of their own people
Yes, the establishment has always been frightened of the people. There were taxes in the 19th century that prevented cheap newspapers being sold as the government feared mass media would incite the working class to revolution.
A Polite Police State. Tea at 4PM
And it’s going to get a lot worse in the U.K., radically so, we will become worse than CCP or North Korea very soon
@@flomoloko360tea at any time I’ll have you know 😅
I loved my scanner hobby, so interesting listening in way back in the 90’s, great times 😉
Skegness, Blackpool, Rhyl, Sheppey (the Isle of .. which I know well).
I think this video says as much about life in these coastal areas as it does about the law.
… and now Scarborough!
Where or when is this going to end?!
…and now Grimsby…
Listening in its self shouldnt be a crime, but should be if the person is committing a crime or suspected of committing a crime.
Purely listening shouldnt be an issue, but if you're breaking another law: then it should be considered.
If someone is a licensed radio operator, works with broadcast, radio or commercial: then i dont see a problem with it.
If a guy is caught racing and has a police scanner: no doubt he was using it to evade police.
Everyone talks about our laws in the US.. Ive had a scanner since 1989 and never got in trouble for owning it.
there are states that ban mobile mounted scanners, along with radar detectors.
@johngraesser4911 most of those states have exemptions for amateur radio operators. And in those states, it's only illegal when the vehicle is in motion.
Hi Lewis!
I remember as a boy growing up in the Midlands, listening to the local Police around Walsall at the top end of the FM broadcast band, also, occasionally early cordless phones! Not if they were "direct" or spurious signals.
I was also pondering how long its going to take Starmer to reintroduce the £15 CB licence fee to help plug his 22Billion black hole! 😂😂😂
Thanks!
my old man used to tell me the difference between here and the US is in the US assume its legal unless you are told it isn't while here assume its NOT legal unless you are told it IS there may be some truth to that!!
no truth whatsoever if you can be bothered to ask.
It must be really nice that British police have nothing better to do than to arrest people listening to scanners. Here in the US, our police are too busy chasing down house break-ins, stolen cars, shoplifting, drug deals, and shootings.
most of these scanners were found because they were called to the place on other matters that could have been any of the things you mentioned. they weren't exactly actively searching houses for scanners haha
@SamThredder Good point.
We WISH they were doing such good things.
Some U.S. police are Actually busy raiding the wrong house for drugs,
stealing cars by having them towed from legal parking spaces,
confiscating hard-earned cash citizens are carrying so they can buy things,
and committing various other violations of Constitutional rights.
if its illegal in the UK at the time what's the problem? Try scanning at the gates of area 51 and see how many 5.56 widens you anus....
I had a shit earlier. Apparently even that’s a crime in Britain now… 🙄
What a joke this world has become
Agreed
it's country not world silly
@@user-qh5zz7dy1h go elsewhere and you'll see it's already as bad or worse, otherwise they would not be flooding in.
@@LTPottenger I agree partially but this is because of people above and the cattle who votes on them!
This is an area where America has better laws IMO. Anything that is broadcast via radio can be legally received, and it's the responsibility of the transmitting party to secure the information if they are authorized to do so. Police/Fire/EMS scanning was a common hobby here up until most of the comms became scrambled/digital.
That's the majority of the world - not just America...
Better laws? LOL. America would rather see a continuation of school shootings than provide free medical for all. Yeah much better for the few. And you think your not under a dictatorship...
Watching me, watching you..
In Australia back in the 1980’s a prosecution for Interception of a radio message failed when court accepted that Interception did not occur as the message was not prevented from reaching its intended destination. It resulted in the old radiotelegraphy act being reviewed and replaced by the radiocommunication act. Scanners are not illegal here in Australia
I’d also ask why don’t you have to prove you have a licence to buy a car? Losing your licence doesn’t prevent you buying a car
You would have thought a good lawyer could have had the case of a receiver "transmitting" thrown out.
Wait until they dispose of it, then appeal on the transmission part. No evidence.
What's a "Good" lawyer?
Listening in during the riots in the UK was very interesting. (Allegedly, of course!)
I used to listen to police/emergency dispatch through an app on my iPad. It wasn’t like listening to undercover cops or police raids, but it was still pretty entertaining. I think a lot of police departments protested over time so there aren’t as many that you can listen to online these days. One time I had to call police for a minor neighborhood incident (some dodgy stuff went on fairly often there) and accidentally still had the app playing on my iPad when the cop came to my door -and heard it. Oops! But I’m not sure it was playing the local police dispatch, it may have been another city. If I had been in the UK I imagine I would have been arrested?
What device can we legally use in the UK if the main telephone networks go down
Do you really expect the British government to be prepared for emergencies?
@@griffinbastion TBF nah I don't when they can't even get there house in order that's why i asked
@@VultureUk-Rich Britain tends to have a bad habit of killing obsolete technology to save money on the infrastructure and banning the technologies they use themselves, this however means that if anything happens there is no legal or effective way of maintaining social order or communicate with civilians in affected areas in emergencies
smoke signals
A piece of string and 2 tins comes to mind.:)
The one in Oldham (Crimeside as we called it) I wonder if my dad was one of the magistrates as he was a magistrate at Oldham around then. No way of really knowing though as magistrates used to just work in their free time, From memory I think my dad used to do a Wednesday as it was his day off.
It is just logical evolution that today one can go to prison for a tweet
Only for tweets advocating violence, assault and other criminal offences, for which most of the accused pleaded guilty.
NB This is a radio-related channel so let’s not stray off-topic, please.
@@UKRO404 You tossed out your NB by engaging the conversation. And people have been arrested and charged over memes. It's all interpretation of the context. You have NO FREE SPEECH. HAHAHAHAHA!
@@trekster9269 and a judge can decide the intention behind it.... Very dystopian.
@@UKRO404 and most of them plead guilty because they were told that if they didn't they'd be put on remand and the book would be thrown at them. Given that many of them actually couldn't believe that they would get sent to prison for the things that they'd done (which in many cases were fairly innocuous (and others as if to prove my point, who didn't plead guilty just won their cases) - they plead guilty (most were just ordinary people, never been in trouble before)..... and then the law/gov decided to go mental releasing actual criminals so that others could be jailed for things they said and posted. If you'd bother to look into some of these cases rather than just swallowing what the gov and mainstream media tell you to think you might be a bit better informed.
NB: You decided to reply and show your ignorance so you're fair game.
@ gug1970
I accept I made a faux pas with my NB and ensuing comments.
OTOH, you’ve made some very sweeping assertions about the judicial procedure that led to so many convictions. Please cite your source(s). I’m genuinely interested btw and look forward to any clarification you can offer.
Maybe you can provide grounds for appeal against some or all of the convictions, rather than merely voicing your anger.
I look forward to hearing from you.
I find it interesting that most of these people didn't realise it was illegal to listen to a police transmission, but the real question is why did the police have a warrant or reason to search their house. Surely not because they had a scanner.
PS. The voice sounds better Lewis 👍
This is the UK. They don't need warrants because some king or queen said so.
I think you need to research UK law, rather than make yourself look a fool.
@@andrewcoupe9528 UK Law = We will do whatever we want, and pretend we're a reasonable society while being a dystopian clown. There you go, I solved UK law for you.
I always remember being told not to program on the presents certain frequencies
Exactly. Our locals were around the PMR range
In America, citizens have a right to listen to police as part of the first amendment.
These stories are great!
I cannot imagine being stoned out of one's gourd and the Police show up to do a shakedown of a radio 😂
Thankfully we had no such law against listening and the Police had DVP encryption on certain channels when most others were analogue FM.
So you could listen to all but the real juicy stuff and not break any interception law.
Good old Days
Alerted me to a surveillance once that probably saved me.
Love it!! Thank you
So many scanner stories to tell about the US scanner laws Lewis but, most of the laws now allow their use, except in the commission of a crime...We hams were mostly given a pass in those days...
Most people were not just hams prosecutions were very low, yes ok I was more than 10 times but I was at demonstrations passing info to those involved, was also informing media, was there at bombings, royal and military events, sporting events loaded up with royal protection, special branch military intelligence and lots more, I took the risk lost radios, and just got more
Was on royalty protection collater list, so my photos and details were given, one day was doing scanning on bus nr Victoria Station, trooping the colour so I stayed using buses when my name and he's under admiralty arch came up, well I knew wasn't me, they got him and it was queen mums chef in the crowd lol
When Buckingham Palace first opened I joined queue st James Park, men in black came up said your mot going on there
King if Jordan visited one day bp, gate officer at no said mib want to talk to you, I stood there 20 minutes, was never held so was odd, asked officer what's going on he said soryy was only joking lol
By that time I wss not on the collater list anymore was classed as safe they knew I had my scanners and was listening, when arrested 2009 under terrorism act they checked me with special branch and they cleared me, and was taken off terrorist arrest charge
amusing isn't it at one time i had the frequencies of the entire west midlands force including a most of the links at my fingertips and listening to some of the staggering ineptitude was always entertaining little wonder they got so salty about being monitored :) Then came encryption (when they remembered to activate it!! ) then came Tetra Airwave and fun went away.
Back in the early 1990's a Radio Ham Police Officer on night patrol partnered with a Special Constable (who just happened to work at the then GCHQ station at Cheadle) . The Officer had read the book Spy catcher by Peter Wright where a technique known as "Raftering", listening to the local oscillator of a receiver was mentioned, had a hand held scanner tuned 10.7 mhz above and below Uhf Police frequencies. Subsequently. When a carrier was found local Officers would do a pretend raid on the nearby address Co ordinate by Police Radio . It was amazing how quickly the bathroom lights immediately came on and the toilet heard to flush by somebody nearby. Wonder what was flushed down the toilet😂
At around 15:20, did you say possession of cannabis with a street value of 45 to 50 PENCE!?
Yes he did.
Quite cool hearing a local story, i live in Sudbury.
I can listen whenever I want. England saw Orwells 1984 and went "yeah, I like that, this is fine".
To sane people 1984 was a warning. To England it's an instruction manual.
Never keep police and fire frequencies stored in your scanners. Less chance of showing you have monitored the services.
Now what about SDR receivers? Some are capable of wideband reception and just one click of a mouse will put you on a particular frequency in no time flat.
or on the way back to the office you can program in a few police frequencies and document the voice of your colleague to make sure the charges stick....
In Canada in the 90s , every time I'd go to my grandmother's house , I would listen to the scanner . I wasn't very old before they switched to dual digital encrypted. Still had fire and ambulance I to the 2000s . Now I can pick up the weather , and that's about it.
"...and possesion of cannabis, with a street value of 25 to 45p"
That's hilarious
That's almost like saying 'I only slightly killed him', and makes your comment moronic. Illegal is illegal.🤦
@@andrewcoupe9528 did you mean to reply to this comment? Your reply is irrelevant to my observation about the hilariously specific and ridiculously dumb 'street value' of half a spliff as reported in the video
Crazy how illegal something so simple is. You would think they would change to an encrypted mode if they were so concerned.
I know a girl who just had her ex done for domestic violence and he got less of a charge than the person who was listening to the scanner in his van lol.
One truly awesome aspect of UA-cam channels from Britain is that even the likes of amateur radio nerds tend to have frigging awesome music as their channel theme. Like the jungle tune on this one. American channels in contrast in variably have thrash guitar rock music.
Hi Lewis, Is listening to public safety agencies limited to police or does it also include Fire and EMS?
Yes it does and sir, marine commercial pmr it's just never used much in past or today even less, these stories are handful of what millions of people use to listen to police, often in the street open at incident even and no arrests
I still go to incidents and listrn to fire handhelds chat to fire officers etc have no issues
Thanks so much for this incredibly thorough series of cases involving scanners. I note that almost without exception every case involved a scanner sound to be tuned to police frequencies.
Some other notable similarities. In not a single case did the person found with a scanner tuned into police frequencies say that they tuned it in! It was always a mate, or a digit itself, or I bought it and it was already to did like that. None of them seems to have admitted knowing it was illegal to listen in this way and none of them ever admitted it was anything but a bit of fun!I’m also highly amused by how many of them were sprung because the police were in their presence and they had neglected to turn the scanner off so the police heard themselves thereby alerting them to the presence of something they would not have known
Why weren't the police using encrypted channels? It's their own fault if people can listen in to their doughnut orders.
Because there wasn't anything reliable in those days
Oh for doing research for prevent moronicness.
@@andrewcoupe9528 what do you mean?
Great content ❤
How do the police know when somebody's listening to a scanner in their home?
They don't.
Only if it's picked up by the telescreens
if a rdf radio if available, they can pick up the internal signals of the radio'. the same sort of tech was used during wwii to find illegal radio receivers in occupied europe.
@@johngraesser4911that's also how radar detector detectors work.
@@johngraesser4911 nowdays this is very theorical, with digital tuners the IF leaks is so low that it seems unlikely,
When I was a kid in the 60s we had a old valve radio set that actually said Police maked on the band dial. Wow things changed.
Why doesn't the government ban all imports of these electronics?
Because they don't want to cut off a proven revenue stream. Would you?
I Australia, we used to listen to a scanner on a Friday night listening to all the calls regarding drunks and other funny calls. When thely switched to digital it ended that entertainment.
More examples, of the criminalisation of fresh air
1:17 the buttons on that device remind me of hitachi. obviously the radio is another brand but i wonder if any other viewers are ocd enough to feel nostalgia for those tiny rubber buttons?
what devices and brands did you use them on as a child/adult/teenager etc. ? 😄
Still got my realistic handset!
In the early 1970's our local police station got a radio transmitter installed on the roof of the station, no problem except our shiny new automatic washing machine picked up the broadcasts ! I know hard to believe but the metal body was acting as a speaker. turns out our flat was on the same level as the transmitter and in an exact straight line and the distance and frequency was perfect to cause the issue. The original Suggestion of the GPO was that we have the washing machine moved or face prosecution, even the Glasgow police did not like that plan and I know the washing machine was never moved but eventualy police radio traffic stopped be a feature of it.
Police can listen in to us, but we can’t listen to them 😂
Remember "Threshers Offlicens" Brand (That's how long ago). Listening on My Tandy Realistic a report of a UFO Hovering over Local "Thresher" came in on Police Frequency. I must add I did not attend for a look. 😂🥂👍
The nature of a scanner being what it is. If a police officer, carrying a police radio that is switched on, picks up a scanner, isn’t the scanner going to tune to the frequencies of the police officer’s radio as the are usually repeating at some level? How are people in the UK allowed to use SDR tech like usb dongles?
Gotta love how the crimes are named…” Going Equipped…” Some in the US might wear that as a badge of honor.
I seem to recall, its not illegal to listen to radio transmissions, its illegal to repeat them or act upon them.
Nope, research the law, it’s always been the same
I've used scanners to record "in ear monitors" at concerts. I'm wondering now if I've dodged my collar being felt on many occasions now! phew! Something I'll need to consider seriously in the future I think!
As always interesting
Sounds like you've had a cold Lewis.
Here in Canada and in the states is not legal lmao...
Are these types of arrests still happening? How common are they? If it is such a big a problem, why doesn't the UK simply ban the import and ownership of these scanner devices? I am staring to question the intelligence and integrity of the British people!
No not anymore
@ that’s good to hear. My faith in the monarchy has been restored 😆
Where I live felons aren't allowed to have scanners for many years after conviction. As defined in law that could include a Baofeng in areas that still use analog for police. There are a few departments still on analog here although it's very rare. Theoretically it might even include a phone with a scanner app.
They're all encrypted now!
Yep… said that at the start of the video but thanks
I remember the cops broadcast on vhf broadcast band around 101.3mhz and ajacent frequencys ..
The uk is gone
No, it’s still here
@ you fall badly
These are all years ago
Sounds like a job for Gene Hunt, Sam Tyler, and Alex Drake ;)
Bring back Michael Ironside with
the Scanners movie. 😅
I’d also ask why don’t you have to prove you have a licence to buy a car? Losing your licence doesn’t prevent you buying a car
These sound like strict liability offences. Mere possession is enough to be convicted. You don't have to prove intent.
If the channels are programmed in, it's an easier win.
Intent is irrelevant.
@crazyunclebob6901 really? Considering intent is one of the most important parts of a criminal conviction, it appears you don't know much about the legal system.
As I understand UK listening is technically legal and instantly becomes illegal when any USE of information. That includes admitting had received it and often the only evidence available.
One case at bow street magistrates I spoke up for myself and judge was impressed with my knowledge on it, he admonished the officer for bringing it to court, I was listening to protection freqs nr Whitehall when a major summit was going on, sat discreet but had to change batteries in park and hadn't noticed officer coming by me
Wasn't fined praised by judge but he had to follow met police wanting radios confiscated
As said we added freqs to database made public, I did files on royal family and government callsign and we had no trouble at all on that
On here METPOL 701 my id, that's the callsign for every prime minister, every monarch is purple 1
Charles was purple 45 as pow, Anne purple 7
I was getting brown envelopes from police radio engineers, police controllers, serving officers, raf and mod, radio communications agency enforcers callsign channels freqs
Though in fact much I had worked out myself like the main u uhf channels standard home office set up, with some regional differances, old storno met vhf robbery squad, seg, protection channels simplex looted in 147 mhz so when I got a full storno ch list it matched mostly what I had guessed, I found uhf protection 450 mhz etc sane way
Ch32 451.95 ch33 452.4 knew firearms 452.375 so said ok who else is 451.975 to 452.. 35 sure enough shook hands with Edward millennium eve at southbank and got protection on 451.975 mhz another one added to my database
Ch7 451 325 though cid ops was also protection as well, even ex president Clinton out guys were in ch7 and mi5 hq surveillance, fire brigade had 451. 4 but at time of saw nimrod the siege they were told to use other channels, in other wires SAS were using 451. 4 on the Iranian embassy siege
Was so good gleaning information in the old days
Even today protection forget if on another event net like Farnborough airshow dmr where I had metpol701A and e on 457 mhz event net from outside the airfield and inside with pm position and where next etc, they hadn't realised they were on non secure radios
Should one planning nefarious deed's "Ya gotta fight, for - Your Right- to Lissc---tennnnn!!
в ссср нквд тоже запрещало иметь радио во времена войны и если бы они пришли с обыском и нашли дома радиолампу то владелец отправлен валить лес на каторгу. Там умерло много людей. А теперь мусора в 21 веке опять вешают вину на людей ?
I would love to see these magistrates put up with having their property "confiscated". They're just thieving gangs in drag.
First world problems😆
Never knew about Police karens
While I realize the laws governing radio communications can vary from country to country, I had no idea the UK Laws were so restrictive. If the use of scanners & radio receivers was so illegal, why do the locals laws allow the sale of the receiving equipment in the country to begin with? It almost sounds like entrapment by the authorities. Perhaps a guaranteed revenue source, like red light cameras?
ham radio operators are normally allowed to own the equipment. here in texas hams are even allowed to operate while moving while non hams would get a ticket if they aren't operating hands free.
Exactly.
Yes, I saw a shop owner in the US waited for nine hours for the police to pitch up after a mob burgled his shop leaving it destroyed.
Wow, you Brits sure have a lot of crazy laws, especially in your TV and radio usage. Plain nuts.
I'd love to move back to the UK someday, but right now it feels like it has become a bit of an anachronistic Orwellian nightmare. Criminalized cannabis? Thought crime? Wow.
Congratulations on escaping. However your naivete is astounding.
Thank you for leaving, your Entitlement is not missed.
25-40p? :D
Incredible use of resources..
sigh...
Let us hope there are more stories that we don't hear about.... where they have prevented actual crimes?
I dunno...
police are going to love the hackfr one portapak then
Great video, again 👍🏻🫡
Why don't the courts go after the real culprits!
The manufacturers! 🤔🤔
What real culprits lol? They're legal outside of the dystopian police state. The courts should go after the ridiculous laws that make them illegal, but again, the dystopia isn't going to just fix itself.
Because they have no jurisdiction.
lol, culprit of what? UK is nothing to the scale of the world. It is tiny, the food and weather are awful, orwellian monarchy, driving on left.
🌺🏛👮🏻
We're ok in U.S. esp. now.
Naive
@@crazyunclebob6901nope
Some police forces and local councils in some areas want to carry out regular property inspections and regular searches on council properties of those living alone as they assert that even possession of a scanner is illegal in council properties and is deemed as “illegal activity” even if it is not suspected that someone has a scanner - this is not even based on suspicion or any tip-offs, it’s just general police and council harassment of single people living alone because they can, especially if they are far-left and ideologically driven, as single people living alone are easy targets and easier to control, as police/council don’t want them living in their properties and/or area
Please cite your source(s) Michael.
That's crap I have 20 scanners all operating when my housing association come to see me for any reason
No prosecutions from the London area ?
I came across none! Interesting how most are around the same area
@@RingwayManchestermay be something to the demographics of those areas. I bet a few were could in the Metropolitan area but there is no information to go on.
@@RingwayManchestermine were all London
That’s insane, thanks Good Merica fight for its independence from, you know who 🙀
No the law is not crazy, but the law is you can listen. But the kicker is using the info you hear on any police channel. Very hard to prove you wernt useing for nefarious purpose, specifically to do with drugs around ,many amateurs would have the police bleed over there radios as they drove past ,very annoying especially when doing a RAYNET exercise in the 70,s 😂 anyhow great program keep it up..
Nope the law has always been clear.
You are not allowed to listen to anything not intended for you.
@RingwayManchester sorry but your have to go in to the details of the the radio telegraph acts they had back then theres a lot of law details to drag through which horrible to say i did,being old school nd not wanting to break the law . Old school radio and tv engineer qualified also annel retentive probably still am, maybe some of the old gen who laboured over the law on this subject would like speek on this Q
Overwise how would you work on there equipment that was bad cos of the way they treated it, ??
It was always about the details in the radio telegraph act. There were a lot i can tell you that
@@RingwayManchesterBro that's messed up y'all's government got y'all by the balls man