Have you always wanted to be a police officer? With the right Android applications, you can now come one step closer to doing just that. Ranging from apps that allow you to scan police radio stations, decode police codes and terms, and look up criminal statutes, you can now play cop or become a super neighborhood watchmen.
Police Radio Scanner
Scanner Radio is a free app that allows you to listen to police radio feeds. Now it doesn’t work like a traditional scanner which allows you to pick up police frequencies, but it’s still a pretty cool application. It uses free and publicly available streams that allow you to listen to local radio chatter. This includes chatter from police, fire, and ambulances as well. Since it doesn’t allow you to pick up specific frequencies, you may not be able to pick up your specific town, but you can get pretty close. I was able to get my counties chatter, but not my specific town. If you live in a bigger city such as Chicago, you will be able to get your entire cities’ radio chatter. This may not be as cool as the police scanners for sale at BearCatWarehouse.com but it’s still pretty close.
Police Decoder
Police use a bunch of cryptic terms in their radio conversations. So even if you have the above scanning app, you may not be able to understand what they are saying. Police Codes is an app that lists all the standard police lingo that they learned in the academy. Did you know that 487 means grand theft, and that 647 means lewd conduct? Neither did we until we downloaded this cool app!
Cargo Scanner
Are you suspicious of that semi-truck driving with you down the highway? Want to be a little nosey and find out what is in it? Cargo Scanner is a cool app that allows you to do just that. Each truck cargo down the road is required to input what they are carrying in a database. That four digit code that you see on the back of their truck is a method of tracking that. This app will let you know exactly what a truck is carrying, and whether you should be concerned or not. It will tell you potential hazards, if it’s toxic or not, and what kind of equipment is needed to handle that material.
Vehicle Identifier
This app contains a list of every car and color variations of that car. Did someone see a suspect enter a car and get away? Does your witness not know cars very well? Patrolman’s Vehicle Guide will allow your witness to search a database of nearly every car ever made, for every year, and with every color. Easily identify cars even if you are not a car person.