March 2000 Even more than so-called criminals, police move among us as strangers.
Police inhabit a territory of their own creation that is generally closed to civilians.
This territory may share the same physical space in which we live and work, and quite often imposes itself on or invades our everyday landscape. Most of us may live our entire lives without ever getting an insider's view of police culture and procedure, but it is pretty simple to witness police activity through two-way police radio broadcasts. Doing so offers a privileged glimpse not only into the veiled world of police procedure but also into the background of our own civilian environment. Listening may tell us more than we may want to know about the structures of power and enforcement that bring peace and safety to some of us and chaos and uncertainty to others. In the compact city of 100 years ago, communications moved by feet, horses, text and wire.