LANSING, Mich. — Lansing resident Loretta Stanaway loves her police scanner. Listening to it has been a hobby of hers for several years.
“I’m listening to it on and off throughout the day, but it’s more consistent from 9pm to about 3am," Stanaway said.
Over the years, Stanaway said those scanner calls have given her all kinds of intel, including the police lingo.
But this hobby isn’t as uncommon as you may think. Loretta said more and more people are taking advantage of scanners.
“Typically until around 11 (am), when I first started, you may have 40 to 50 people listening, but there are times when big things are happening, like when the shooting happened at Logan Square, there were about 7,000 people listening,” she said.
For the people who don’t listen, Stanaway posts daily “scanner updates” on social media.
“A lot of people who are on my feed rely on the posts and look for them,” she said. “You know was there a car accident? Was there a fire in their neighborhood, they want to know these things.”
And if you’re an employer looking for a scanner listener, Stanaway has one thing to say.
“I have been followed by dispatchers, and they’ve often told me I should come work for them, but it’s a no, I have a job, this is just a hobby,” she said.
