A question about police airwaves...?

Question

If a cop pulled you over for a ticket or for whatever reason..and I was talking to a friend (that may have his phone tapped) on my cell phone, would my conversation or messaging pick up on the police airwave? What is a police airwave exactly? Anyways..could I have gotten him in trouble? Is that why he may have cut his phone off for awhile?

Answer 1

The police won't hear you on mobile radios. We run on a trunked, encrypted (tactical ops anyhow), digital radio system at my department. Everything runs through a digital RNC (radio network controller) and then gets distributed to the system. Even with the older standard VHF and UHF channels, cell phones don't carry over. Besides, the taps you are talking about are through the cell company at their facility, not over the air. There has to be a warrant for that, with a specific scope for the tap. No worries on your part though.

Answer 2

No, police radios run on many different frequencies and styles. Some are on standard radio waves like CB, and can be picked up on scanners. In our city, they are on digital lines and encoded, rolling through millions of random ranges. These cannot be picked up.

If a phone were tapped, it is done through the service provider under the authority of a warrant. It is done from the source, and doesn't carry over the airwaves. If his phone was tapped, his cell provider would have provided a patched line, which is a listen only line, to the police. Simply opens up a listening post everytime the phone activates. You'll never know.

Answer 3

I like your friend I don't like to take chances on some type of magnetic field mishap. I would be my luck I would be talking about him and it would some how get picked up. Better safe than sorry.

Answer 4

only way they can listen in is w/ a warrant and have a scanner near him.