When Big Brother Isn't Big Brothering

07/07/2026

The Buffalo Police cameras look like they were right there!

Here's a fair question. How did the July 4 E. Delavan Street takeover happen over the course of so many hours under the nose of not one but TWO police cameras covering that exact swath of blocks?

Was the camera room staffed that night? I ask this as a technocrat who is always excited when technology can help to rescue victims and solve crimes (of course subjecting myself to the wrath of those who oppose technology). But that ideal seems to have failed on the night of July 4 and morning of July 5.

If police were anticipating a promoter's street party, wouldn't they have used the cameras which were fortunate enough to exist at the place it was precisely scheduled to take place, to do something more proactive? The whole thing has a lot more reactive feel to it than these cameras should have allowed for. (scratching head, seriously).

See comments for updated understanding and insights to this post.

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  By BuffScan for BuffScan.

buffalopolice controversy crisis

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News Piece Scolding Not to Listen to Police Scanner, Reason to Listen to Police Scanner

07/06/2026

The Actual Recording

Recording from early morning of July 5, 2026 - BPD Channel 3 (C and E District Channel)

IMPORTANT: The Cheektowaga Facebook Page did incorrectly interpret and convey the type of diversion called out by BPD as pertaining to gunshot victims, in its first banner post. The initial banner post by the Cheektowaga Scanner page did in fact convey, incorrectly, whether declared by ECMC or the BPD, that gunshot victims were being diverted. The actual "diversion", as it would be established in user commentary, was for what BPD refers to as "22.09" -- cases which pertain to things like intoxicated individuals and other mental health matters.

It is important to clarify and acknowledge this, as well as to acknowledge that Cheektowaga Scanner has accepted responsibility for its mistake. However, keep in mind the broader editorial being made here at BuffScan with respect to the inappropriate scolding over people relying on police scanners for information, and the mainstream media's selfish play to keep exclusive access to that traffic, so that it can make such mistakes all by itself. ;)

Shots Fired at Facebook Police Scanning Pages

At a time when New York Senate Bill S10079 and Assembly Bill A11199A are one or two inches short of being signed into law, you can bet as controversy swirls over the wording of each, there are going to be those eager to demonstrate why the public cannot be trusted with access to public safety radio traffic and only the ordained mainstream media can.

As it happens, such an example is being attempted by BTPM NPR in their story "ECMC says it did not divert patients during Fourth of July shootings".

What Happened?

The Cheektowaga Scanner Facebook Page apparently created a post, AI banner and all, pointing out that due to the high number of shooting victims on the morning of July 5, "22.09s" were being diverted elsewhere from ECMC.

To be sure, the vernacular of "diversion" and the general overall construction of the post sure do come off as somehow impressing that ECMS may itself have made the decision if you are just skimming. But the devil is in the nuanced wording -- which in the case of the posting, is glaring back at anyone looking at it.

The banner reads that the diversion was actually a Buffalo Police advisory, and yes, they gave exactly that. You can hear the recording yourself above. In it, an exasperated Buffalo Police officer asks dispatch to call out over all other BPD channels to take "22.09" patients (apparently a reference to those intoxicated and the like) anywhere besides ECMC, to which the dispatch agrees to do.

Cheektowaga Scanner, in its usual flamboyant way, conveyed this dutifully with its posting. Keep in mind none of the chaos was being covered by the mainstream media yet, let alone the hint of a packed ECMC emergency room filled with gunshot victims. Only the police scanner traffic was heroically keeping citizens in the know.

For the rest of this post, I will merely regurgitate what I posted on the BuffScan Facebook Page.

Here it is:

The reporting in this BTPM piece is slightly misleading. The Facebook scanner page, Cheektowaga Scanner, never said ECMC announced a diversion.

Further, this report is also inaccurate because it approaches ECMC for a clarification, but ECMC isn't the correct party to offer that clarification in this case.

What actually did happen was that a BPD officer asked dispatch to put a call out to all other BPD channels that any other police units with gunshot victims (correction: 22.09 cases) be taken elsewhere, to which BPD dispatch agreed to do.

The post by Cheektowaga Scanner (Cheektowaga Scanner) explicitly says that this diversion was a Buffalo Police call, not ECMC's. The fact is, yes, BPD, going by police scanner traffic, did in fact call for a diversion. The audio recording establishes this as pure fact.

Although it would seem like the natural thing to do so, asking ECMC to clarify this matter was arbitrary -- it is the Buffalo Police that should be asked about the call.

To be fair, it's possible that the call out to the rest of the other cars was never made (in fact, one assumes only ECMC officials can actually make such a determination and maybe they figured that out internally at some point), but it is unfair to scold people for listening to the police scanner or try to make the case that doing so is dangerous, while using a distorted example.

People should listen to police scanners, Facebook scanner pages, and social media in general, with discriminating mindsets. Exactly as they should when listening to mainstream media sources.

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  By BuffScan for BuffScan.

A11199A controversy S10079

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