Radio Shack in your area will program the scanner for free for the first
year of ownership.

copy the frequencies into a bank so I have not been able to listen on
any
sort of regular basis. I am still trying to figure out the trunking
feature
of this radio. Almost everything that I have picked up has been in
lower
bands.

Go to the Radio Reference site and they will explain to you how it all
works. They may have the info on the police and fire in your area.