Police Radio Earpieces

As a Police Officer you quickly realize that your radio is one of your best friends, besides your pen it's one of the tools you use the most on the job.

Your radio can be your life line, if your fighting with a suspect alone and you need assistance there's no other way to get your fellow officers to come help then to voice it over the radio.

So it's very important that your radio is always accessible and ready to use.

This article will look at Ear Pieces, as most departments issue you a radio to use which you can not change, but you have the option to wear a earpiece or not.

Are earpieces worth the money?


There are many advantages to using an earpiece for your radio as opposed to having the audio broadcast through a speaker everyone around you can hear, but are there disadvantages?

There are many advantages to using an earpiece for your radio as opposed to having the audio broadcast through a speaker everyone around you can hear and there are also downsides, lets look at both.

Pros:

• As mentioned above the biggest Pro is not having all the radio chatter broadcast ed to everyone around - So when your dispatcher comes across the air to tell you a person your dealing with has a warrant, with a ear piece that info wont make it to the suspect giving you the element of surprise. 
• Helps in loud environments. A earpiece will help a lot if working in large crowds or at a concert as it feels like the communication is right inside your head. With just a normal mic in a loud environment you will loose alot of whats being communicated to you. 
• No interruptions - When on a call your not worried about having to talk over your radio, or your radio interrupting someone giving you a statement.  
• Allows you to pretend your getting a hot call to get out of any situation. 

Cons:

• The earpiece can become bothersome. It won't take long for a earpiece to loose it's shape and maybe start to itch your ear. I don't know what it is about my ear canals but I think they may be misshaped lol.  I have always been a Iphone user, but the ear buds that come with those never fit proper and hurt my ears. SO if this a issue for you, you wouldn't be able to use a generic ear piece you may need to buy a custom one that would cost alot more.
• The ear piece could fall out - if you get in a fight with a suspect your ear piece cold easily fall out of your ear cutting off your communication with your fellow officers, you could still talk out to them, but you would not hear them asking you questions coming to find you to help.
• Cost- The wires become cracked and you will need to replace

To sum it up, this is a personal decision. Look over the Pros and Cons and decide if you wanna give one a try. Personally I have one that I use for special events like concerts or events I'll be in a large crowd but for general patrol I don't use one.



Kennyo