On the scanner
POLICE RADIO
Radio traffic in California often names an offense by its code section, so a number heard on a scanner is usually a section number. Type it and see the section that carries it, word for word from the Legislature.
46 sections held here, each read off the Legislature’s own page. What you type stays in this browser.
For example:
What a number does not say
- A section says what the law prohibits. A number on the radio says nothing about what anyone did, or whether they did it.
- An agency can use a number its own way, and some radio codes, the ten codes among them, are not section numbers at all.
- The same number can be a section in more than one code, and the radio may not name the code.
What California law says about listening to police radio is on its own page: Listening To Police Radio.