# Is there a way to detect police presence nearby?



## UberLAguy (Aug 2, 2015)

I am not talking about police traps that map would alert you. More like police cars roaming about on city streets

Radar scanner?
Anything else?

https://www.ratedradardetector.org/blog/best-police-radar-detector-app/


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## Diamondraider (Mar 13, 2017)

UberLAguy said:


> I am not talking about police traps that map would alert you. More like police cars roaming about on city streets
> 
> Radar scanner?
> Anything else?
> ...


Shoot a gun


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Criminals would love this. To accomplish it I would think you would need to hack into police department GPS systems and create an app that would transfer this to a map. What would people pay for this app. Bet you could get easily $100 per day of use.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

If you’re not breaking the law, why worry?


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Frontier Guy said:


> If you’re not breaking the law, why worry?


Because you are breaking a law. 

Plus the police always hassle me even when I'm not breaking a law, for instance taking a nap in my car, or maybe they think my gun is just too big. It'd be great to be alerted if there's a police car around the corner so I could disappear before they come around it.


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## SpinalCabbage (Feb 5, 2020)

Police do use a GPS system to track their vehicles in the field. I suppose hacking into that system would get you what you describe. I can't imagine it being legal.


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

Play loud rap music with your windows down.


Also Be Black.


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## Kilroy4303 (Jul 31, 2020)

Map out the location of all donut and coffee shops and you run a good chance of their routine ..

(Actually I have the utmost respect for police officers ( not the thugs with badges. . . .there is a difference)


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## CarpeNoctem (Sep 12, 2018)

Just to play devil's advocate, you can easily receive the gps transmissions for the various police depts. Technically, there would be nothing wrong with decrypting those signals as long as you don't interfere and/or retransmit them in some way. But, they could make or have specific laws against it. Much like the use of radar detectors, radar speed guns emit a signal that is in the public airwaves so no real way to outlaw their reception. Similarly, active jammers are usually illegal because you are interfering with their signal. However, what you passively do with the received/decrypted signal would be the only gray area and there would have to be specific laws.

Good luck trying to decrypt them. While nothing is beyond decryption, it would likely be herculean task.


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## Kilroy4303 (Jul 31, 2020)

Amos69 said:


> Play loud rap music with your windows down.
> 
> 
> Also Be Black.


Wow. .. . . . . no other words. . but wow. .. . ..


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## Judge and Jury (Oct 19, 2019)

UberLAguy said:


> I am not talking about police traps that map would alert you. More like police cars roaming about on city streets
> 
> Radar scanner?
> Anything else?
> ...


Not sure about the city of LA.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Judge and Jury said:


> The LA County Sheriff's Department has a website available to allow all citizens within the county to track all vehicle movements; including all unmarked detective vehicles and vehicles driven by undercover deputies.


Very useful. Kind of like watching the ants on the Uber Passenger app. That way when you need to call for help you know how far the nearest cop is, and when you need to commit a crime you can similarly consult the map and plan your getaway time accordingly. I hope all departments follow suit!


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

CarpeNoctem said:


> Just to play devil's advocate, you can easily receive the gps transmissions for the various police depts. Technically, there would be nothing wrong with decrypting those signals as long as you don't interfere and/or retransmit them in some way. But, they could make or have specific laws against it. Much like the use of radar detectors, radar speed guns emit a signal that is in the public airwaves so no real way to outlaw their reception. Similarly, active jammers are usually illegal because you are interfering with their signal. However, what you passively do with the received/decrypted signal would be the only gray area and there would have to be specific laws.
> 
> Good luck trying to decrypt them. While nothing is beyond decryption, it would likely be herculean task.


This is information is less secure than it would seem. Not because the encryption is necessarily bad, (although it wouldn't surprise me if some small departments use poor quality or outdated software with vulnerabilities), but because of the human factor. The weakness tends to be not in the encryption but in the fact that there exists some way to decrypt it and it probably involves a password controlled by a human that is much more easily tricked.

Of course, unlike decrypting things over the air, unlawful access to databases is much more generally criminal. 

Fortunately for the police, I doubt the average meth head burglars and lone wolf serial killers are likely to gain access, but I wouldn't be surprised if organized crime syndicates already have access to this sort of data in many cases. Police databases have been held for ransom by hackers in the past, which is the more typical motive for hacking, but I would not be surprised if very wealthy criminal syndicates have also penetrated many police computer systems and keep a much lower profile, possibly going undetected for years. It is probably a major nuisance to these crime syndicates when someone else hacks the system and holds it for ransom! Then the system gets patched and they probably have to search for a new way in.

In my state, intercepting police communications is a secondary offense. It isn't illegal on its own, but if you are committing another offense at the same time then it is. Radar detectors are fine in Nevada, but listening in on police radio for instance is only okay if you are not actively engaged in a criminal offense.


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## CarpeNoctem (Sep 12, 2018)

Trafficat said:


> This is information is less secure than it would seem. Not because the encryption is necessarily bad, (although it wouldn't surprise me if some small departments use poor quality or outdated software with vulnerabilities), but because of the human factor. The weakness tends to be not in the encryption but in the fact that there exists some way to decrypt it and it probably involves a password controlled by a human that is much more easily tricked.
> 
> Of course, unlike decrypting things over the air, unlawful access to databases is much more generally criminal.
> 
> ...


Radar detectors are legal in Texas as well. They don't like them and will note on any tickets you might get.

There are probably still cities out there that still use unencrypted voice systems. I think Dallas is still on the old system that people can listen to on scanners and on the web for a few channels. If someone were to listen to scanners, they could figure out the location of most of the cops. As to the GPS system, I would think that is more of a standalone hardware encryption and would not require a user password per se. I agree that their backend systems are likely much more vulnerable and, yes, if someone got access to the backend server(s) then they might not need the actual decryption method and keys for the GPS system.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Next up after the break, a discussion on the importance of wearing clean underwear every day!


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

UberLAguy said:


> I am not talking about police traps that map would alert you. More like police cars roaming about on city streets
> 
> Radar scanner?
> Anything else?
> ...


What do you have in mind ?


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Seamus said:


> Next up after the break, a discussion on the importance of wearing clean underwear every day!


Because . . . When he gets Locked up . . .it may be the Only pair of underwear he has for a month or more.


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## W00dbutcher (Jan 14, 2019)

Kilroy4303 said:


> Wow. .. . . . . no other words. . but wow. .. . ..


It maybe wrong.

But has a point.


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