Ever wonder what is happening when you see police or other activity in your Amherst neighborhood? Or where you work? There is a lack of local news in Amherst, MA. And certainly the official police blotter leaves out a LOT of information and is not real-time.

AmherstScanner transcribes real-time, publicly-available radio communication data that is gathered via multiple public and published frequencies and puts it in writing so that the citizens of Amherst and surrounding areas (Hadley, Belchertown, Sunderland, Pelham, South Hadley) can keep up with what is happening in town…in near real-time. It is essentially the Amherst Police Scanner, Amherst Fire Department Scanner, and, for those who really want to know, the Amherst Department of Public Works Scanner (pothole, anyone?).  AI does the transcription, so sometimes it is not accurate and even laughable.

Data is published about 15 minutes after transmission of original voice data.

Readers can contact us with any questions or suggestions for the site.

We would like to charge a small monthly fee to simply offset the cost of electricity, but we are not there yet. For now, we are using Amazon links to earn some coffee money.

Disclaimer: Transcriptions are certainly not 100% accurate.

Hot off the air

___ 10 dispatch Go ahead, 10 Operator, off national line Sierra 70400453, 35 issued, clear to stop, bandicap Received ___ 10 to dispatch Go ahead, 10 You had 4 Mike Papa Alpha 1-9, what’s that? 3 ___ 20, dispatch. Go ahead, 20. Vehicle was moved out from the triangle. All units will be clear. Do you know if the RO was the operator? Give me one second. I heard him say long after he gave me.

Date picker

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Abbreviations

  1. RP = Reporting Party
  2. BOLO = Be On the LookOut
  3. CAD = Computer-Aided Dispatch