Police Scanner Laws in North Dakota (2026): Is It Legal?

The law in North Dakota

There are no state statutes restricting the ownership, use, or mobile operation of a police scanner in North Dakota. Scanners may be used in vehicles, in public, and in any legal context.

Enforcement reality

No enforcement history. Scanner use is fully protected.

What you can monitor in North Dakota

With a police scanner in North Dakota, you can legally listen to any unencrypted public safety channel, including:

• Fire department dispatch and operations
• EMS and ambulance communications
• NOAA weather alerts and emergency broadcasts
• Unencrypted police channels (where available)

In practice, of the 38 talkgroups catalogued across North Dakota in our database, 17 are recorded as being in the clear and 21 as encrypted.

The radio systems most often recorded in North Dakota are North Dakota Statewide Interoperable Radio Network (SIRN 20/20), Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER).

Before buying a scanner, check whether your local agencies in North Dakota have encrypted their communications. If they have, your scanner won't be able to receive their transmissions regardless of legal status.

What's already encrypted in North Dakota

Scanner use being legal in North Dakota does not mean everything is listenable. Our database currently tracks 32 agencies in North Dakota that encrypt at least some radio traffic, across 18 counties. Of those, 21 encrypt all monitored channels rather than only a few.

The encryption most commonly recorded in North Dakota is P25 DES-OFB (24 agencies), P25 AES-256 (7 agencies), and P25 ADP (1 agency).

11 of these 32 records have been verified against RadioReference system data; the remainder are unverified and may be out of date. Encryption status changes without notice — confirm the current status of any specific agency on RadioReference before relying on it.

Frequently asked questions