Imagine that you and your best friends have just finished watching Die Hard, and one of you gets inspirational and announces, “How great would it be if we could listen to police chatter too?” At this, another friend gets up announces, “Even better, how great would it be if we could listen police chatter in St. Louis Missouri, online for free?”
Before you go around asking and trying to find out if that is possible, let me tell you that it is indeed something you can do. Believe it or not, I’ve spent many a cozy nights with my husband, us wrapped comfortably by the fire, listening to the local dispatch in the warm glow of the computer.
Is it legal to listen to Police Radio Scanners in St. Louis, Missouri?
Before you start wondering whether it is legal to to listen to Police Radio Scanners, let me inform you that it is, as long as you’re not listening to a private telephone or cellphone conversation. Not only is listening to fire, EMS and police live feeds absolutely legal, doing so may sometimes provide you with useful information, such as a wildfire or a break-in in or around your neighborhood. Reporters have been known to use online police scanners to keep themselves updated on the various happenings in in their area.
How does one stream local Police Radio Frequencies in St. Louis, Missouri?
If you’re looking for police scanners that you can listen to online for free, all you need to do is search for them online. A word of warning though: You must be careful while doing so, as there are many sites that claim to provide free services but are in reality trying to get you to buy one, or worse have you download either malware or spyware which can greatly damage your computer.
Therefore, while choosing a scanner online, you must stick to those that are reputable and have verified online user reviews. You can also use search engines that would specifically help you find proper and legitimate alternatives and multiple sources, such as Streema.com and ScannerMaster.com. And in case you’re one of those people who neither have the time nor patience to read through all of that, you can simply go to Youtube and find videos on how to use free online scanners.
While researching for this article, I found a couple of sites that turned out to be very good. One such website was www.RadioReference.com, which I should admit was one of the most easy-to-use sites. All I had to do was go to the site, click on Missouri, click on St. Louis, and I immediately got several choices to choose from and listen to.
Another website is dxzone.com, which offers several live online feeds. With a much larger format than the former, it has the metropolitan areas listed at the top, with other locations listed alphabetically as you scroll further down. My personal favorite, however, is www.tunein.com. Not only is it free and has good quality, it can also be upgraded by paying a small fee in case you don’t want to see the the few commercials.
Are there any Police Scanner Apps? Yes, there are. Most of the aforementioned sites have mobile apps which you can easily download and use.
Needless to say, with so many alternatives out there, finding security, entertainment and information that come from using online police scanners is not a hard thing to find.