Social Networking Watches Police Radio Traffic

As couches were being set afire and college students clogged the streets in Lexington (Ken.) tonight after Kentucky’s NCAA basketball championship win, the social media were lit up over the voice of the dispatcher working the city’s police radio channel. A live Internet stream of LPD’s channel 2 attracted nearly 13,000 listeners at one point, and also generated scores of Tweets and Facebook postings. Many of the Tweets commented on the quality of the female dispatcher’s voice, while others admired her coordination skills. Some of the on-line comments were clearly sexist, but others were strictly professional. There was considerable background noise during radio transmissions from field units, and coordinating safe fire responses was difficult. Over a 10-minute period, an officer’s portable radio intermittently broadcast an open mike signal, lending to the complexity of the incident. The police department and Fayette County sheriff were still sending more officers and deputies to the campus area at 2 a.m. on Tuesday.  The live scanner audio was posted on RadioReference.com.