Scanner Chasers: An inside look into the hobby in Rhode Island

February 25, 2016 5:20 pm

When big news like fires, car crashes, or shootings happen, information is broadcast via scanner to emergency personnel. But, it’s not just firefighters and police officers listening. There’s a growing number of scanner enthusiasts who monitor that interaction as well.

People involved in the hobby spend countless hours glued to their scanners each and every day feeling a personal duty to inform the public about what is happening through social media.

Everett Trainer is one of a fairly small group of scanner chasers in Rhode Island. He spends hours upon hours a day in his car chasing news he hears on police and fire scanners.

"They are on all day, every day," said Trainer.

Trainer is just 19–years–old. He has eight scanners worth hundreds of dollars, and he says he keeps them on pretty much 24/7.

"There is no money involved in any of this. This is merely a hobby. It’s not a living,” explained Trainer.

Trainer says he’s always been interested in scanners, but one of the driving forces behind his hyper involvement in the hobby is his hope of one day becoming a police officer.

"It’s the closest I can get to being on a scene and being involved right now because I’m not hired by an agency just yet,” he said.

Trainer is one of a handful of people that follow the news this way in the Providence area. Others like him are constantly tweeting about scanner traffic and chasing breaking news.

"I listen every day when I can. When I get home I listen. I always have this on and I have my computer on, obviously,” said Bethany Hashway.

Hashway is a newcomer into the hobby. She says her motivation for getting involved is her hope of getting a job in the news industry.

"I do this because I want to be in news. I want a job in news being an assignment editor because I love to listen to scanners,” said Hashway. "The adrenaline is the most exciting part. It keeps me pumping."

Some enthusiasts are more addicted than others. Hashway listens when she can, but Trainer is so devoted that he works a third shift schedule. He stays up every night until five or six in the morning.

"The motivation is really to show what our first responders are doing. My job is not to get recognition for myself, my job is to show the public what our first responders are doing on a daily and nightly basis. When you go to bed the action out here isn’t stopping,” said Trainer.