Is it legal to listen to police scanners in Pittsburgh?

Yes. Listening to publicly broadcast scanner traffic is legal in Pennsylvania and across the United States. Restrictions only apply to using a scanner while committing a crime.

What is the best Pittsburgh scanner feed to start with?

The Pittsburgh Police, Fire and EMS feed on Scanner Radio covers city dispatch traffic across all Pittsburgh zones and is the most popular starting point for new listeners.

Can I listen to Allegheny County feeds outside the city of Pittsburgh?

Yes. Scanner Radio has separate feeds for Allegheny County's northern, southern, and western areas, covering the dozens of municipalities and townships that surround Pittsburgh.

June 1, 2026

How to Listen to Pittsburgh Police, Fire, and EMS Scanners

Q: Do I need a physical scanner to listen to Pittsburgh police?

No. With the Scanner Radio app, you can listen to Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, and Allegheny County EMS feeds straight from your phone. There is no hardware, antenna, or setup required.

Listen to Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, and Allegheny County EMS scanner feeds live from your phone. Direct links and tips for new listeners.

Pittsburgh Has Active Scanner Traffic Around the Clock

Pittsburgh sits at the confluence of three rivers and serves as the hub of Allegheny County, a region of roughly 1.2 million people spread across 130+ municipalities. Scanner listeners here aren't tuning into one department: they're hearing city police, fire, EMS, and county agencies all coordinating in real time. No hardware required. Just an app and a few seconds to tap into a feed.

How to Start Listening

Open Scanner Radio, search "Pittsburgh," and you'll find feeds covering city police and fire, Allegheny County's northern and southern areas, and more. These links jump straight to the most popular feeds:

Pittsburgh Police, Fire and EMS: the main city feed covering Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and Bureau of Fire dispatch.
Allegheny County Police, Fire and EMS - Southern Areas: county dispatch south of the city.
Allegheny County Police - North: law enforcement dispatch for the northern county.

What You'll Hear

Pittsburgh scanner traffic reflects a city built on hills, rivers, and tight neighborhoods. Dispatchers coordinate across bridges and tunnels, call in river rescue units, and route mutual aid between city and county departments when an incident scales up. When something significant breaks, scanner traffic is reliably the first place it surfaces, well ahead of local news alerts.

Two Scanner Radio features are worth turning on: community-tagged headlines let listeners flag the incident type active on a feed (building fire, pursuit, water rescue) so you know what's happening at a glance, and listener spike alerts push a notification when a feed sees a sudden surge in activity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal? Yes. Listening to publicly broadcast scanner traffic is legal in Pennsylvania and across the United States.

Do I need a physical scanner? No. Scanner Radio streams live feeds straight to your phone, no hardware required.

Best feed to start with? Pittsburgh Police, Fire and EMS covers city dispatch across all zones and is the most popular starting point.

To get started, download Scanner Radio

Scanner Radio

Live police, fire & EMS scanner audio

Search "Pittsburgh" in Scanner Radio to browse all available Allegheny County feeds. You'll be listening to live dispatch in under a minute.