Alas, the reason he stopped me (which he never mentioned of course) was that I looked very close to the description of someone who had just robbed a bank in my home town.
By the time I got to my parents house, everyone in town had "heard" I had been arrested for bank robbery thanks to a few folks with police scanners.
Much of the activity I have heard on scanners is mundane: running plates, responding to alarms, ambulance calls, noise complaints, accidents blocking traffic, minor disputes where one side feels compelled to summon the police.
There are the tragedies. Lots of medical calls where someone is unresponsive, which could be anything from an OD to a heart attack. "Domestic calls," usually fights between spouses or parents and adult children. Mental health emergencies. Seniors wandering the street, who have forgotten where they live.
Then there are the serious emergencies: fires, armed robberies, once a car chase. When I first got started decades ago there was a Boston police channel that a gang unit sometimes used but since then they appear to have migrated to a non-public frequency. I frequently hear police now asking specific colleagues to call them, I assume because the info shouldn't be shared over the regular dispatch frequency or would take too long to explain and tie up the channel.
I remember having an 800MHz scanner in the 80's when cellular was born, and listening to some unbelievably banal and dull conversations. I learned 80% of cell phone calling is "what's for dinner?" conversations.
To me, it'd be like someone saying: "Oh, you're curious and like to look at the stars? How droll!"