• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Scanner Laws in the US

The police have legal authority to search the areas in your considered to be under your control during a stop to secure the environment...ie protect them from having a gun pulled out on them. No warrant is required, it is considered a reasonable search. If, in the course of the search, items in plain sight include your scanner, then it may be seized. If the scanner software on your phone/tablet/laptop isn't up and running, an officer likely would need a warrant to go through your phone, &al. But then again, I'm not an attorney, and these sorts of things get tangled up and blue really quickly.

The doctrine of exigent circumstances basically says that if such probable cause exists that a judge coming upon the scene would go "here's your warrant" they can search away. A number of jurisdictions have electronic means to do the trick.

Let's be careful out there!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Karen St John said:
The police have legal authoruty to search the areas in your considered to be under your control during a stop to secure the environment...ie protect them from having a gun pulled out on them. No warrant is required, it is considered a reasonable search. If, in the course of the search, items in plain sight include your scanner, then it may be siezed. If the scanner software on your phone/tablet/laptop isn't up and running, an officer likely would need a warrant to go through your phone, &al. But then again, I'm not an attorney, and these sorts of things get tangled up and blue really quickly.



The doctrine of exigent circumstances basically says that if such probable cause exists that a judge coming upon the scene would go "here's your warrant" they can search away. A number of jurisdictions have electronic means to do the trick.

Let's be careful out there!
Click to expand...

That kind of thinking has made me money twice from the city of Rogers, Ar.
 
Or you could just take the simple tech test and get a ham license and be done with it. Seems even in the places they are flat out banned, licensed ham radio operators are listed in the exemptions. You can thank the ARRL for that one.
 
Yep, I have my HAM licence and thats the best way. Love that exemption :) . I also do search and rescue in my state so I am exempt anyway
 
If you are not blaring your stereo you probably will not attract this kind of attention. If you are and then they find you have open warrants, I think the scanner app is the least of your worries. The majority of police I know, could care less if you have a scanner in your car or on your phone or tablet, regardless of the law. Most have better things to do.

As far as the Ham exemption goes, use this with common sense and you should be fine.
 
Karen St John said:
The police have legal authority to search the areas in your considered to be under your control during a stop to secure the environment...ie protect them from having a gun pulled out on them. No warrant is required, it is considered a reasonable search. If, in the course of the search, items in plain sight include your scanner, then it may be seized. If the scanner software on your phone/tablet/laptop isn't up and running, an officer likely would need a warrant to go through your phone, &al. But then again, I'm not an attorney, and these sorts of things get tangled up and blue really quickly.

The doctrine of exigent circumstances basically says that if such probable cause exists that a judge coming upon the scene would go "here's your warrant" they can search away. A number of jurisdictions have electronic means to do the trick.

Let's be careful out there!
Click to expand...

Sorry, but this is completely wrong. There is no authority to search anything without your consent unless you are under arrest or they have probable cause. If there is nothing illegal in plain sight viewable from the windows (and your cell phone does not count), then there is no probable cause for them to search. They can ask, and you can (and should) refuse. Refusal to consent does not create the probable cause that they would need to search without consent. If you refuse and they search anyway, the search is illegal and nothing they find can be used against you.
 
Matt Tottle said:
Sorry, but this is completely wrong. There is no authority to search anything without your consent unless you are under arrest or they have probable cause. If there is nothing illegal in plain sight viewable from the windows (and your cell phone does not count), then there is no probable cause for them to search. They can ask, and you can (and should) refuse. Refusal to consent does not create the probable cause that they would need to search without consent. If you refuse and they search anyway, the search is illegal and nothing they find can be used against you.
Click to expand...

Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (2009), was a United States Supreme Court decision holding that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires law enforcement officers to demonstrate an actual and continuing threat to their safety posed by an arrestee, or a need to preserve evidence related to the crime of arrest from tampering by the arrestee, in order to justify a warrantless vehicular search incident to arrest conducted after the vehicle's recent occupants have been arrested and secured
 
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