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Kentucky Scanner Law
Original source: Kentucky Revised Statutes (2012)
432.570 Restrictions on possession or use of radio capable of
sending or receiving police messages; Penalty -- Enforcement.
(1) It shall be unlawful for any person except a member of a police
department or police force or an official with written
authorization from the head of a department which reglarly
maintains a police radio system authorized or licensed by the
Federal Communications Commission, to have in his or her
possession, or in an automobile or other vehicle, or to equip
or install in or on any automobile or other vehicle, any mobile
radio set or apparatus capable of either receiving or
transmitting radio or other messages or signals within the wave
length or channel now or which may hereafter be allocated by
the Federal Communications Commission, or its successor, for
the purpose of police radios, or which may in any way intercept
or interfere with the transmission of radio messages by any
police or other peace officers. It shall be unlawful for any
car, automobile, or other vehicle other than one publicly owned
and entitled to an official license plate issued by the state
issuing a license for the car, to have, or be equipped with the
sets or apparatus even though the car is owned by an officer.
This section shall not apply to any automobile or vehicle owned
or operated by a member of a sheriff's department authorized by
the fiscal court to operate a radio communications system that
is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission or other
federal agency having the authority to license same. Nothing in
this section shall preclude a probation and parole officer
employed by the Department of Corrections from carrying on his
person or in a private vehicle while conducting his official
duties an authorized, state-issued portable radio apparatus
capable of transmitting or receiving signals.
(2) Any person guilty of violating any of the provisions of this
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction,
shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars
($50) and not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500), or
imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) months, or both so fined
and imprisoned.
(3) It shall be the duty of any and all peace officers to seize and
hold for evidence any and all equipment had or used in
violation of the provisions of this section, and, upon
conviction of the person having, equipping or using such
equipment, it shall be the duty of the trial court to order
such equipment or apparatus destroyed, forfeited, or escheated
to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and said property may be
ordered destroyed, forfeited, or escheated as above provided
without a conviction of the person charged with violating this
section.
(4) Nothing contained in this section shall prohibit the possession
of a radio by:
(a) An individual who is a retailer or wholesaler and in the
ordinary course of his business offers such radios for sale
or resale;
(b) A commercial or educational radio or television station,
licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, at its
place of business; or
(c) An individual who possesses such a radio, provided it is
capable of receiving radio transmissions only and is not
capable of sending or transmitting radio messages, at his
place of residence; licensed commercial auto towing trucks;
newspaper reporters and photographers; emergency management
agency personnel authorized in writing by the director of
the division of emergency management (for state personnel)
or chief executive of the city or county (for their
respective personnel); a person holding a valid license
issued by the Federal Communications Commission in the
amateur radio service; peace officers authorized in writing
by the head of their law enforcement agency, Commonwealth's
attorneys and their assistants, county attorneys and their
assistants, except that it shall be unlawful to use such
radio to facilitate any criminal activity or to avoid
apprehension by law enforcement officers. Violation of this
section shall, in addition to any other penalty prescribed
by law, result in a forfeiture to the local law enforcement
agency of such radio.
(5) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a paid or
volunteer member of a fire department or a paid or volunteer
member of a public ambulance service licensed in Kentucky who
has been given permission in writing by the chief of the fire
department and the chief of each law enforcement agency whose
frequency is to be monitored, or the director of the ambulance
service and the chief of each law enforcement agency whose
frequency is to be monitored, to possess a radio capable of
receiving on a frequency allocated to a police department or
law enforcement agency, whether the radio is in a vehicle or
not.
(6) The secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet is
hereby empowered by issuance of a secretary's order to exempt
from the prohibitions and penalties of this section the
possession and use of any and all radio communication equipment
that he finds is necessary to be owned and used by members of
the general public and other nonpolice persons for utilization
in the N.O.A.A. weather radio system.
Effective: July 14, 2000
History: Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 176, sec. 1, effective July 14,
2000. -- Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 226, sec. 111, effective July
15, 1998. -- Amended 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 418, sec. 9, effective July
15, 1994. – Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 110, sec. 1, effective July
14, 1992. -- Amended 1986, Ky. Acts ch. 241, sec. 1, effective
July 15, 1986. -- Amended 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 137, sec. 1, effective
July 15, 1980. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 435, sec. 1, effective
June 17, 1978. -- Amended 1976 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 14,
sec. 443, effective January 2, 1978. -- Amended 1976 Ky. Acts 166,
sec. 1 -- Created 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 66, sec. 1.
Retranscribed by: Todd L. Sherman/KB4MHH
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