Police radio frequencies

There are many people interested in listening in on police radio frequencies with their own radios. I think this is because people have a fascination with what type of crime stuff is going on. And when you think about it, you can see the intregue around listening to police radio frequencies.

I remember one time about 5 years ago when there was some type of police event happening on my street. There were fire trucks and many law enforcement people there. They had blocked off the street with their vehicles. I walked down to see what was going on. Of course, you couldn't get close to the event. They had it tapped off to keep us away.

But someone had a hand-help radio that could pick up police radio frequencies. He was standing near us, so we were able to hear all the chatter between the varios officers on the sceene as well as the communication with the central office. This was cool.

What was even more cool was that the helochopter that was circling above was usinng the same police radio frequencies as the street units. So we could hear the pilot and his spotter periodically talking as well. It seemed to use that they were after a bad guy and had his house surrounded. Not sure what the bad guy had done. But it didn't look like he was going to get away with it.

I am not sure if listening to police radio frequencies like that is legal or not. I have no idea. This guy was a little shy about his radio, so I wondered if perhaps it was not. But he was also standing out in the street in public. You would think that if it was not, he would have stayed at home.. Does anyone know the rules on this? If so, please commente below.