my military time was with the now defunct USAF Security Service as a radio traffic analyst...and worked both Cold War and SEA targets..so had an interest in scanners when I separated... most interesting was when the Summit Venture smacked into the Skyway Bridge...

as a HS teacher I was on the emergency management committee following the active shooter incident at Colombine, Co and we reevaluated our emergency management plans...portable radios were always in short supply and high demand...if you have kids in school, check with your Parent/Student/Teacher assn, and see what kind of cell phone tree teachers have with the front office during building evacuations...and if teachers can use money allocated for classroom supplies to purchase FRS type radios so they can form a comm net, as an administrator with a radio might be a football field away if needed...(in my case a student had with bad allergies needed some benedryl)

we had a 3hr building evacuation, and as soon as the local TV helicopter did a live shot, our front office and local 911 center was flooded with calls from anxious parents, effectively shutting off our lines of communication