[Scan-DC] Even non-reporters feel the lure of the scanner

[Alan Henney]

Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon)

February 8, 2014 Saturday 
1 Edition

Even non-reporters feel the lure of the scanner

BYLINE: By, Joce DeWitt

SECTION: MID-VALLEY; Pg. A5

LENGTH: 623 words

Scanner junkie. Radio relayer. Incident tweeter.

A concept I was completely unfamiliar with until I took my job as breaking news reporter for the Statesman Journal.

With a degree in New Media Communications, I was familiar with Twitter. But this breed of users, who constantly tweet, tweet, tweet whatever they hear on their police radios, was new to me.

Granted, I had never really used a scanner before - at least not the way I was expected to as a crime and breaking news reporter. 

I soon learned I would have to keep one ear on the scanner whenever I sat at my desk, regardless of who was on the phone or what I was writing.

Within a week it became apparent how valuable these scanner junkies would be. They're the first to know anything about what I'm supposed to be covering - car crash, shooting, house fire or arrest. They're the first on the scene, in a virtual sense.

I use these tweeters as tipsters, not sources. Anything I learn from them must be confirmed - from a fire chief, dispatcher or sheriff's deputy, for example - before I publish it online or in print.

Sometimes they just help me get to the right place. I'm willing to bet, however, that a good portion of the breaking news we cover is sparked by a civilian Twitter user with an ear to the scanner.

I'm grateful to these folks, who speak fluent police code and have very efficient typing skills, but it took me a while to understand the draw. What's in it for them? They spend their days listening to police officer and firefighters. It seemed so much like work.

My job put me at the intersection of Twitter updates and scanner chatter, and I was bound to encounter the Salem area scanner tweeters sooner or later.

One of the first to come to my attention was a user with the Twitter alias @tmundal. The breaking news reporter who trained me told me this was someone I needed to follow. @tmundal gave me some insight to his world, and why someone would listen to the scanner regularly.

@tmundal was an active Twitter user before he started listening to the scanner. He said he downloaded a scanner app on his iPhone and followed a bank robbery at the Maps Credit Union on Mission Street play out in real time.

"It got me hooked instantly," he wrote.

Within a couple weeks he bought a real scanner, and from what I can tell, @tmundal is a near-daily scanner tweeter, though he doesn't use it strictly for tweeting what's on the scanner. While he uses it to post information about incidents around the city, Twitter is beneficial as a source of recreational entertainment and staying informed on global news.

"I assume some people may think of it as a service. I have followers from all the local news media outlets and a few national ones, but I don't set out to break a story or anything. If I hear something I think would interest people, I tweet about it. I try to tweet if I hear of, say, a fire, or an accident that is more than a fender bender, or major police activity," he said.

Another local scanner tweeter came to my attention more recently: @ScannerRelay.

@ScannerRelay, as do most of the others, tweets as a hobby. She works three jobs and doesn't always have the time to inform the public of every dispatch.

She said it makes her feel good when the public service she provides is also done by others.

Her Twitter usage is based on family ties to the radio. Her father was a radio enthusiast and onetime radio station announcer. Her uncle had a career in law enforcement.

"Thus the creation of a scanner radio enthusiast emerged," she said

jdewitt at StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6714 or follow on Twitter.com at Joce_DeWitt

today's deep dive: COPS & COURTS

JOCE DEWITT covers the police beat and court proceedings. Contact her at jdewitt at StatesmanJournal.com or 503-399-6714.