KENTUCKY REVISED STATUTES ANNOTATED Copyright (c) 1971-1994 by The Michie Company All rights reserved. *** THIS SECTION IS CURRENT THROUGH THE 1994 SUPPLEMENT *** *** (1994 FIRST AND SECOND EXTRAORDINARY SESSIONS) *** TITLE XL. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS CHAPTER 432. OFFENSES AGAINST THE STATE AND PUBLIC JUSTICE KRS @ 432.570 (Michie 1994) @ 432.570. Possession or use of radio capable of sending or receiving police messages restricted -- 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 regularly 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; disaster and emergency services personnel authorized in writing by the state director of disaster and emergency service (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 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. HISTORY: (Enact. Acts 1942, ch. 66; 1976, ch. 166, @ 1; 1976 (Ex. Sess.), ch. 14, @ 443, effective January 2, 1978; 1978, ch. 435, @ 1, effective June 17, 1978; 1980, ch. 137, @ 1, effective July 15, 1980; 1986, ch. 241, @ 1, effective July 15, 1986; 1992, ch. 110, @ 1, effective July 14, 1992; 1994, ch. 418, @ 9, effective July 15, 1994.) NOTES: CROSS-REFERENCES. Television receiver in motor vehicle, unauthorized installation prohibited, KRS 189.025. OPINIONS OF ATTORNEY GENERAL. All private cars, including those of peace officers, are prohibited from being equipped with any radio or other apparatus which is capable of either receiving or transmitting messages within the wave length or channel allocated for the purposes of police radios. OAG 66-495. Members of an organization known as REACT whose vehicles are equipped with radios capable of receiving police calls would be in violation of this section. OAG 70-368. The possession and use of a mobile radio set in a constable's car with the transmitter and receiver on a police frequency relating to the communications system of the local city police would make the constable subject to the application of this section. OAG 71-281. Sheriffs of Kentucky and their deputies may use mobile radio communication equipment in their privately-owned vehicles in connection with their law enforcement and official duties, which equipment has been purchased by a fiscal court pursuant to KRS 70.210 without violating subsection (1) of this section. OAG 71-494. It is immaterial whether or not a radio set in an automobile is connected. OAG 72-817. Where the owner of a filling station who repairs police cars may have such cars for several days during servicing and the city has installed a police radio system in the owner's private car for convenience, such installation is illegal and his appointment as a special policeman or auxiliary policeman would not cure such illegality. OAG 73-690. Since the word "person" under subsection (21) (now subsection (26)) of KRS 446.010 may include a corporation unless the context requires otherwise and since this section provides for an alternative punishment of fine or jail time, a corporation can come within the meaning of "person" as such word is used in this section. OAG 74-888. The term "capable" as used in the first sentence of subsection (1) of this section would include a radio set that may be converted by various simple adjustments to receive police broadcasts. OAG 74-888. The term "mobile" does not exclude a radio set utilized in an abode, regardless of the source of power or method of installation. OAG 74-888. Under KRS 189.950 and this section, the fiscal court does not have the authority to permit county auxiliary policemen to install flashing blue lights or police radios on their cars. OAG 75-500. Possession of radios capable of monitoring or transmitting police frequencies is illegal, and this includes merchants unless they only repair for or sell such radios to authorized individuals. OAG 76-10. As used in subsection (1) of this section in the phrase "any mobile radio set or apparatus" the term "mobile" modifies "radio set" only, not "apparatus" and thus the use or possession of any radio device or equipment, whether it be mobile or stationary, capable of intercepting or interfering with the wave length or channel assigned to the police by the F.C.C. is prohibited. OAG 76-92. A radio station can legally put a scanner that would receive only police broadcasts and not transmit in a mobile unit. OAG 78-384. The phrase "newspaper reporters and photographers" used in this section is broad enough to include news reporters of the entire news media, i.e., television, radio, newspapers and magazines, since if the exception were narrowly restricted to newspaper reporters, it would be unconstitutional, since it would be arbitrary. OAG 78-384. The use of police scanners in the "private automobiles" owned by official or professional members of the news media is legal under the statute in question. OAG 78-608. This section is impermissibly vague as applied to radar detectors because it does not adequately connote or embrace the use of radar detectors within the existing prohibition protecting the effectiveness of essential police radio communications. OAG 79-154. The chief of a fire department has no authority to permit fire fighters within his department and under his command to install radios in their private vehicles for use in the performance of their official duties if those radios are capable of receiving or transmitting police messages. Only those persons and organizations who can bring themselves within the exemptions and exceptions set forth in this section are permitted to use or possess such radios. OAG 82-126. COLLATERAL REFERENCES. 86 C.J.S., Telegraphs, Telephones, Radio, and Television, @ 122.