Police scanner

Yes, you can still hear public safety agencies transmitting via scanner. Although most have switched to an 800mHz or 900mHz system, so your scanner will need to be able to scan these higher frequencies.

Yes, 800 radio scanners are available and you can get a pretty good idea from what is said, largely due to the transition from 10 code to plain speech. However many officers use in car computers, text and similar methods to reduce radio traffic. There are also (off the grid) channels which normally are empty but may be used in high risk events like SWAT or crowd control.