Police aviation

Police aviation is the use of aircraft in police operations. Police services commonly use aircraft for traffic control, ground support, search and rescue, high-speed car pursuits, observation, air patrol and control of large-scale public events and/or public order incidents. They may employ rotary-wing aircraft, fixed-wing aircraft, nonrigid-wing aircraft or lighter-than-air aircraft. In some major cities, police rotary-wing aircraft are also used as air transportation for personnel belonging to SWAT-style units. In large, sparsely populated areas, fixed-wing aircraft are sometimes used to transport personnel and equipment.

A Eurocopter AS365 N3 Dauphin 2 of the Victoria Police Air Wing.

History

The first police aviation department was established in New York City.[1] Fixed-wing aircraft have generally been replaced by more versatile rotary-wing aircraft since the late 1940s. However, fixed-wing aircraft are still used in some missions, such as border patrol, as their higher speed and greater operating altitude allow larger areas to be covered.[1]

In 1921, the British airship R33 was used to help the police with traffic control around horse racing events at Epsom and Ascot.[2]

A large mural on the side of St. George's Town Hall in the East End of London depicting the 1936 Battle of Cable Street public order incident includes the police autogyro,[3] that was present during the incident, overhead.[4][5]

Rotary-wing aircraft

A Groen Hawk 4 of the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command

The most common form of police rotary-wing aircraft is the helicopter, but other types of rotary-wing aircraft such as autogyros are also used.[6][7][8] The Groen Hawk 4 autogyro was used during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.[9]

Police rotary-wing aircraft are sometimes equipped to perform multiple functions, or are designed so that equipment can be changed quickly when required for divergent roles. For example, a rotary-wing aircraft could be used for search-and-rescue, and then as an air ambulance.[10]

Police forces sometimes use military surplus rotary-wing aircraft, such as the Bell UH-1 Huey.[11] Some policing organisations, such as the Policía Federal in Mexico, acquire new military rotary-wing aircraft such as the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.[12] However, most buy civilian rotary-wing aircraft directly from major aircraft companies[13] or lease them from specialty suppliers.[14]

The use of police helicopters by the Los Angeles Police Department has been criticized for causing excessive noise and pollution and harming the well-being of community members.[15]

Fixed-wing and nonrigid-wing aircraft

A U.S. Marshal on a "JPATS" flight.

Some police air units also use fixed-wing aircraft, which allow higher and quieter surveillance,[1] making it less likely that suspects will become aware they are being watched. A few police air units, such as the Northern Territory Police in Australia, use only fixed-wing aircraft.[16][17] The use of fixed-wing aircraft also allows for longer flying times and incurs lower running costs.[18] Fixed-wing aircraft are also used to transport prisoners,[1] with the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (nicknamed "Con Air")[19] perhaps being the largest example of this use. Fixed-wing aircraft are also used to provide regular police patrols in remote communities and to transport investigators to remote crime scenes.[17][18] Light-sport aircraft[20] and powered parachutes[21][22][23] can sometimes be used to provide a cost-effective replacement for helicopters in the observation platform role.

The Edgley Optica was a British fixed-wing aircraft built for observation use and was used by the Hampshire Constabulary[24] as an alternative to rotary-wing aircraft.[25] The Britten-Norman Defender is used by the Greater Manchester Police,[26] the Police Service of Northern Ireland[27] and the Garda Síochána.[26] The FBI deployed one Britten-Norman Defender for electronic aerial surveillance at the Branch Davidian compound during the Waco siege in 1993.[28] In Greater London, the Metropolitan Police Service has, for a number of years, reportedly been secretly using Cessna aircraft that have been fitted with surveillance equipment capable of intercepting mobile telephone calls and listening in on conversations.[29]

Lighter-than-air aircraft

A Skyship 600 used for observation by the NYPD during the RNC in 2004

Police blimps were used to patrol the sky during the 2004 Republican National Convention,[30] the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.[31] The blimp Santos-Dumont, named for Alberto Santos-Dumont, operates in the Caribbean for the Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad & Tobago (SAUTT), providing security surveillance. During April 2009, this blimp provided aerial surveillance of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain.[32] Greater Manchester Police began trial operations of a blimp in 2010 to provide surveillance for major events, which would be a cheaper alternative to the use of a helicopter in the long term. However, the blimp was only used on 18 occasions because of weather-related operational problems.[33]

Unmanned aerial vehicles

Police in some areas have started using unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, for surveillance operations.[34][35] Unmanned aerial vehicles come in both fixed-wing and rotary-wing types.

Police aviation

History

Rotary-wing aircraft

Fixed-wing and nonrigid-wing aircraft

Lighter-than-air aircraft

Unmanned aerial vehicles

List of police aviation units

United States

Disbanded police aviation units

Border guards and customs services

Maritime law enforcement agencies

See also

References

External links