How to Find Local Police Scanner Frequencies (Step-by-Step Guide)

Short answer: two things decide whether you hear your local police, the band your county uses and whether the traffic is analog or digital. Both are free to look up on RadioReference, and both matter more than the price of the radio.

Finding your local police frequencies comes down to three things: which band your area uses, whether the traffic is analog or digital, and whether the agency has gone encrypted. Get those right and a $60 handheld hears the same dispatch the news crews listen to. Get them wrong and you own a radio that stays silent.

This guide walks through the free databases, the bands your scanner needs to cover, how to program a radio by hand, and the honest answer about digital and encrypted systems. If you want the short version: look your county up on RadioReference, note the band and the system type, and match that to what your scanner can actually decode.

What police scanner frequencies actually are

Public safety radio lives on narrow slices of the radio spectrum. The agency transmits on a frequency and the scanner listens to that frequency. Nothing else is needed, which is why analog scanning still works in a lot of the country.

Four ranges cover nearly everything you will meet:

Range	Band	What you hear
33.4 to 46.6 MHz	VHF low	Legacy highway patrol and rural dispatch. Mostly gone, still in use in parts of the South and Midwest.
150 to 174 MHz	VHF high	County sheriff, state police, fire and EMS in much of the country.
450 to 470 MHz	UHF	City police, fire and EMS, plus business and hospital traffic.
700 and 800 MHz	Trunked	Statewide digital networks such as MARCS in Ohio or MPSCS in Michigan. These are trunked, not fixed channels.

Analog or digital matters more than the band. An analog scanner hears analog traffic on any of those ranges. Digital P25 traffic needs a P25-capable digital scanner. Analog radios, including the handhelds most people start with, cannot decode P25 at all. Check the system type on the database page for your county before you buy anything: it is listed next to every frequency.

If you are not sure what your county uses, the free coverage check will tell you, and the scanner buying guide explains which radio class matches which system.

Step 1: Find your county in a frequency database

Nobody memorises these numbers. Every working scanner owner starts with the same two free resources.

RadioReference for the frequencies themselves

The largest public safety frequency database in the United States, and the one scanner owners treat as authoritative. Go to RadioReference.com, open Databases, then Frequency Database, then pick your state and county. For each agency you get the frequency, the mode (analog, digital, encrypted) and the talkgroup list on trunked systems.

Read the mode column first. If it says encrypted, no scanner will hear it and you should stop there rather than buy a radio that cannot work.

Broadcastify to test before you spend

Broadcastify.com streams live feeds from volunteers. Browse Live Audio, then Browse Feeds, then your state and county. It costs nothing and takes two minutes, and it answers the question that matters most: is there enough radio traffic in my area to make a scanner worth owning?

Feeds are not the same as owning a scanner. They depend on a volunteer near the action, they lag, and a feed can go dark because the agency encrypted. A feed is a test, not a replacement.

Scanner apps for a quick listen

Broadcastify's own app, Scanner Radio Pro and 5-0 Radio all play the same volunteer feeds on a phone. Useful for a first listen. They cannot receive anything a feed does not carry, and they stop entirely when an agency goes encrypted.

Step 2: Match the band to your area

Once you have the database open, note two things for each agency you want: the frequency range and the mode. Then compare against your scanner's coverage.

• VHF high and UHF analog: a basic dual-band handheld covers it.
• VHF low (33 to 46 MHz): rare on modern handhelds. Check before you assume.
• 700 or 800 MHz trunked P25: needs a digital trunking scanner such as a Uniden SDS or BCD series, which costs several hundred dollars.
• Encrypted P25: nothing in consumer hands decodes it, at any price.

Write the frequencies down before you leave the database page, or better, use the export function. Hand-entering twenty channels is where most people give up.

Step 3: Program your police scanner

On a handheld you enter channels by hand. The sequence is close to identical on most Baofeng and Uniden models:

1. Switch the radio on and set it to frequency mode, not channel mode.
2. Type the frequency, including the decimal, for example 155.4750.
3. Press Menu, choose the channel to store it in, and save.
4. Repeat for each frequency, giving related agencies neighbouring channel numbers. That way you can scan them as one block.
5. Press Scan and let the radio work through the list.

Two things trip people up. First, some radios ship locked to narrow bands and refuse a frequency outside them. Second, CTCSS and DCS tones matter if you are trying to hear one specific agency rather than everything nearby. Leaving the tone off lets the radio stop on any traffic on that frequency, which is usually what you want to start with.

If hand programming is not how you want to spend a Saturday, every scanner we ship arrives programmed for your ZIP code and tested before it leaves, so the first frequency you hear is a real one. See the pre-programmed scanners.

Step 4: Nothing but silence? Work through this list

• Wrong mode. The frequency is right but the system is P25 and your scanner is analog. This is the most common failure.
• Scanner is parked on hold. The radio is sitting on one channel instead of scanning. Press Scan.
• Out of range. Move to a window, upper floor or higher ground. Buildings and hills block VHF and UHF hard.
• Frequency retired. Agencies migrate bands and leave the old listings behind. Re-check the database page, and note the date it was last updated.
• Encrypted. You will hear activity on the channel meter but no voice. See the next section.
• Antenna. The stock rubber antenna is marginal indoors. A cheap external antenna does more for reception than a more expensive radio.

If your local police have gone encrypted

Encryption is spreading, and no scanner, antenna or firmware update defeats it. A device that could decode encrypted public safety traffic would be illegal to sell here. What changes is not your equipment, it is what is still receivable.

Fire and EMS usually stay in the clear, and so do many county sheriffs, state agencies and neighbouring towns. That is often most of the useful traffic in an area. The honest check is to look up your own city before you buy: the city-by-city encryption list covers the largest metros, and you can check your ZIP code free to see what is still receivable at your address.

Three steps, in order: look your county up in a database, note the band and the mode, and confirm the department is not encrypted. Do those first and you will know whether a scanner works at your address before you spend anything. Skip them and you are guessing.

FAQ

How do I find my local police frequencies for free?

RadioReference has the full frequency and talkgroup listings for every county, free to browse. Broadcastify streams live feeds from volunteers so you can test your area before buying any equipment. Both are free and both work without an account.

What frequency do police use?

Most agencies sit in one of four places: 33 to 46 MHz for legacy rural systems, 150 to 174 MHz for county and state traffic, 450 to 470 MHz for city police and fire, and 700 or 800 MHz for statewide digital networks. The exact frequencies are specific to each county, which is why you look them up rather than guess.

Can an analog scanner hear digital police radio?

No. Analog radios cannot decode P25 digital traffic, and trunked systems move conversations between frequencies so a fixed channel list will not follow them. Digital areas need a P25 digital scanner, which is a different class of radio and a different price.

Why can I hear activity but no voices?

That is the signature of an encrypted channel. The scanner stops on the signal, the channel meter moves, and you get a short digital rasp or silence instead of speech. No consumer scanner resolves it.

Is it legal to listen to police radio?

Yes in every state. Listening to public safety radio is legal. What is illegal is using a scanner while committing a crime, and a small number of states restrict mobile scanner use in a vehicle. Listening at home is legal throughout the country. See the scanner codes and legal notes.

Do I have to program the scanner myself?

No. Every scanner we ship is programmed to your ZIP code and tested before it goes out, so it hears your local traffic on the first power-up. You can reprogram it later if you travel.

Browse the full range of pre-programmed police scanners, or see every area we cover to check that your county is on the list.