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

The law in Oregon

There are no state statutes restricting the ownership, use, or mobile operation of a police scanner in Oregon. 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 Oregon

With a police scanner in Oregon, 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 124 talkgroups catalogued across Oregon in our database, 59 are recorded as being in the clear and 65 as encrypted.

The radio systems most often recorded in Oregon are TRBOWEST (WA-OR-ID-CA), Oregon State Radio Project, Western Radio Services, Central Mountain Communications, Day Wireless (DMR), SW 7 County Interoperable Public Safety Radio Partnership.

Before buying a scanner, check whether your local agencies in Oregon 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 Oregon

Scanner use being legal in Oregon does not mean everything is listenable. Our database currently tracks 17 agencies in Oregon that encrypt at least some radio traffic, across 7 counties. Of those, 8 encrypt all monitored channels rather than only a few.

The encryption most commonly recorded in Oregon is P25 AES-256 (12 agencies), and P25 AES (5 agencies).

1 of these 17 records have been verified against RadioReference system data; the remainder are unverified and may be out of date.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