Major Policy Changes Announced

The Scotts Bluff County Scanner Makes Bold Move

Editorial judgements on the newsworthiness of an event are often difficult and require weighing the positive and negative impact on the public. Our intention has always been to promote calm, not panic or misconception while delivering public notices verbatim directly from the scanner. Traffic, no slant, just traffic. Most of the time the original traffic is nothing like the final story at all. If there even was one, sometimes scanner traffic can do more harm than good.

We want our followers and listeners to know that we back the blue and we support our first responders.

We want them to know that after weighing all the positive versus negative effects of posting scanner traffic, the Scotts Bluff County Scanner Editorial Board has made the decision to refrain from posting ems, fire and accident calls in real time.

I repeat. The scanner has made the decision to refrain from posting ems, fire and accident calls in real time.

Instead, our news team will spring into action, get the facts, and cover the story accurately and as promptly as possible. Then we’ll publish a news story once the scene has been secured and or cleared. Our sincere hope is that the general public never interferes in a scene and gives these first responders the space they need to help you and your neighbors in time of need.

Tuesday Oct 27 2026 – Scanner News – Panhandle Scanner News

There's no shortage of news now with our new court reporter working hard. Our courthouse reporter Raul Fernandez has several new articles up on our website and our Facebook page.   A Scots Bluff man faces a trial on a felony drug distribution charge after allegedly exchanging prescription medication for smoking products in Tarrytown. And a Casper woman faced court in Gearing for failing to appear at her 2018 drug case sentencing following a bench warrant issuance. That court date came 8 years later.   Interesting story there. And 308 boy pleads no contest. A 20-year-old pled no contest to unlawful firearm possession recently.   Find these stories and more on our website at Panhandlescanner.com. Just click on the news tab. Or follow our social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and now TikTok. Starting this winter you might see these words on blizzard warnings or ice storm warnings.   This is a particularly dangerous situation, or a PDS. This means there's a high confidence in a rare and extreme event that poses an exceptional threat due to its historic nature. During a PDS, stay off the roads and exercise extreme caution.   That message brought to you by our National Weather Service in Cheyenne. For breaking weather, news, sports, and more, be sure to follow Panhandle Scanner. And don't forget to share it with your friends.   And if you have a breaking news tip, be sure to contact the page, either through Facebook or by our telephone numbers listed on the page and our website. And don't forget our public record every Monday through Friday when available. All on Panhandlescanner.com. That's going to do it for today's scanner news.  

1. Tuesday Oct 27 2026 – Scanner News 02:00
2. Monday Oct 26 2026 – Scanner News 02:00
3. Friday Oct 23 2026 – Scanner News 02:00
4. Thursday Oct 22 2026 – Scanner News 02:00
5. Wednesday Oct 21 2026 – Scanner News 02:00

Again, the scanner will refrain from posting ems, fire, and accident calls in real time. Furthermore, many of you may have heard about the recent encryption in the radio system and are wondering if that will affect our coverage. Statistically, the scanner posts only 1% of the traffic that actually comes across on a daily basis. Many people don’t realize just how many hats the police and firemen wear.

This Policy Change and Recent Encryption will have little affect on our coverage.

We do not necessarily disagree with the decision to encrypt their frequencies. We just want the public to be aware of where their dollars are spent.

This encryption did not catch a by surprise as we saw this coming for several years. Fortunately, with this foresight, we began building a team of citizen reporters around the community who are there ready to deliver the news from the street to you, as is with no slant. This change in policy will only make the community safer, and the encryption will not affect our coverage because of the resources that we have and the citizens around the community.

In fact, with our 30+ years of editorial experience and the people asking to join our team, the scanner is only getting better by the day.

Thank you, scanner community, for your support. We are family!

As for the thousands of you that are following our page but not actually following us… please hit that FOLLOW button. You win great prizes and free giveaways when you follow us, and you’ll have the inside track to information in our five critical areas of news coverage; Police and Crime, Fire and Rescue, Severe Weather, Missing Persons and Safety Alerts.

Recently voted second most trusted new source in the area!

On an average month, the Scotts Bluff County Scanner reaches over 60,000 individuals and over a half a million impressions every month, but more importantly, over 100,000 interactions every single month. That’s 3000 interactions a day on Scotts Bluff County Scanner.

If you are interested in joining the Scanner Insiders, please contact us through our page on Facebook. That’s Scotts Bluff County Scanner.

Again, thanks for listening and may God bless.

I’m Brian Hale.