LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – While on the scene of a three-day-long barricade in Henderson in April, FOX5 crews noticed a 16-year-old on the scene filming the scene and the police cars coming into it.
Gio Falcone has been doing this for years, listening to his police scanners he keeps on his desk at home in Henderson.
“I usually get butterflies,” Gio said of big crime scenes he hears about via scanner traffic. “I kind of have that sense that it’s something big.”
Falcone, a sophomore in high school, keeps four scanners on his desk at home.
“When you get that good one, it’s just exciting,” he said. “A bunch of adrenaline.”
After deciding to go, Gio will either ride his bicycle or catch a ride with his parents to the scene, where he films first responders doing their jobs.
“I always loved how they help people,” Gio said of the police and firefighters he films. “And I just thought it was amazing, risking their lives for complete strangers.”
After the scene is cleared, Gio puts together the clips and posts them on his YouTube channel, Critical 911, which has about 15,000 subscribers.
Gio’s dad Daniel remembers when this interest in first responders began, when Gio was only 11 years old.
“He says, ‘Dad, I want to go see this call. I want to film it and take some pictures. Will you take me?’” he remembered.
Mom was usually the one who took him to scenes at first. To begin, she and Daniel would not let Gio go to situations with firearms, but then they saw how he conducted himself at the scenes — and heard from the officers who saw him there.
“I’ve had police officers come to my house, I kid you not – knock on the door and say, ‘You’re Gio’s dad?’ ‘Yeah.’ And they tell me how much they appreciate him and respect him and what a great kid he is,” Daniel recalled. “That’s some dad pride right there.”
Officer Eric Nielsen with Henderson Police has seen Gio at several crime scenes and is amazed at his recognition skills.
“He understands a lot of things that somebody in field training or somebody in the academy don’t even know yet,” Nielsen raved.
At the April barricade, FOX5 crews noticed Gio hearing sirens coming from a half mile down the road and rattling off how many vehicles were coming, which department they were from, and what kind of vehicles they were.
“Certain agencies use different sirens and stuff, and I’ve always been a fan of all the lights and sirens and all that ever since I was young,” Gio explained. “I’ve kind of learned the models and stuff, and I know which departments.”
Daniel says it began when Gio was three years old and heard leaf blowers down the block.
“He would listen, and he’d give me the model number,” Daniel remembered. “And I’d go, ‘Come on.’ And we’d get in the car and go, and it was exactly what he said.”
Years later, after Gio has perfected that skill, he’s gotten close with the officers who drive his favorite vehicles he hears coming down the road — the SWAT teams.
“They always say hi to me, even if they’re responding through the intersection or whatever,” he said. “They’ll wave or go on the PA and say, ‘What’s up, Gio.’”
As for the future, Gio is torn between being a firefighter or a policeman after high school.
“I have my whole plan set up,” he said. “I want to get my EMT basic either way, if I do fire department or police.”
Officer Nielsen says Gio’s skill set is perfect for his goals.
“Being able to take it all in like a sponge – it’s only going to make him that much more of an asset whenever he straps on this uniform or the fire department’s,” Nielsen said proudly.
Until he does put on the uniform, Gio counts himself lucky to be around Southern Nevada’s finest.
“I look up to them. They’re my heroes,” he said. “So it definitely means a lot when they take their time out of what they do to say hi.”
In a few months, Gio will take his driving test and says that once he gets his license, he’ll be able to go to crime scenes further away from home. He’ll fittingly be driving a decommissioned police cruiser.
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