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.
Uganda Police Airwing - Jinja Airfield Piaggio Avanti P180 EVO Augusta 109 Sokol W3A Bell 206L
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The first police aviation department was established in New York City.[1] Fixed-wing aircraft have generally been replaced by more versatile rotary-wing aircraft since the late 1940s.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
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
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
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.
List of police aviation units
- Queensland Police Service[36] (operated through Surf Life Saving Queensland Aviation)
- Western Australia Police Air Wing[37]
- New South Wales Police Force
- Victoria Police Air Wing
- Westpac Rescue Helicopter Tasmania
- South Australia Police
- National Police Air Service
- Police Scotland Air Support Unit [citation needed]
- Police Service of Northern Ireland Air Support Unit
United States
Many local, state, and federal US law enforcement agencies operate helicopters, and some operate fixed-wing aircraft.
- Federal agencies
- Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System
- State Department Air Wing
- United States Park Police Aviation Unit
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Denver Police Department helicopter[44][45]
- Connecticut
- Connecticut State Police Emergency Services Unit - Aviation Section
- New Milford Police Aviation Unit[46]
- Delaware
- Delaware State Police Aviation Section[47]
- District of Columbia
- Metropolitan Police Air Support Unit[48]
- Florida
- Alachua County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Collier County Sheriff's Office Aviation
- Bay County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Brevard County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Broward County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Charlotte County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Citrus County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Collier County Sheriff's Office Aviation Bureau
- Escambia Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Florida Highway Patrol Aviation Unit
- Hernando County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Aviation Section
- Indian River County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Lake County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Lakeland Police Department Aviation Unit
- Lee County Sheriff's Office Aviation
- Leon County Sheriff's Office Aviation Section
- Manatee County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Marion County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit - at least four helicopters[49]
- Martin County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Miami Police Department Aviaton Unit
- Miami-Dade Police Department Air Support Unit
- Monroe County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Orange County Sheriff's Office Aviation Section
- Osceola County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Pasco County Sheriff's Office Aviation Section
- Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Flight Unit
- Polk County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office Air Unit
- Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Seminole County Sheriff's Office Aviation
- St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Sumter County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Tampa Police Department Aviation
- Volusia County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit "Air One"
- West Palm Beach Police Department Air Support Unit
- Maine
- Maine Forest Service Forest Protection Aviation Branch[50] - 2 Bell 407 helicopters, 5 UH-1H (Huey) helicopters, and 3 fixed-wing aircraft
- Maine Marine Patrol[51] - 1 Kodiak 100 fixed-wing aircraft[52]
- Maine State Police Air Wing[53] - 2 Cessna 183 fixed-wing aircraft
- Maine Warden Service Aviation Division[54] - 3 fixed-wing aircraft
- Maryland
- Maryland State Police Aviation Command
- Anne Arundel County Police Aviation Unit[55]
- Baltimore Police Aviation Unit[56]
- Baltimore County Police Department: 3 AS350B3 helicopters[57]
- Prince George's County Police Aviation Section[58]
- Massachusetts
- Massachusetts State Police Air Wing[59]
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Hampshire State Police Special Enforcement Unit (SEU)[61]
- New York
- Erie County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit[62]
- NYPD Aviation Unit
- New York City Department of Environmental Protection Police Aviation Unit
- New York State Police Aviation Unit
- Nassau County Police Department Aviation
- Niagara County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Onondaga County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit[63]
- Suffolk County Sheriff's Office Aviation Section
- Westchester County Police Aviation Unit[64]
- North Carolina
- North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Air Wing
- North Carolina Highway Patrol Aviation
- North Carolina Marine Patrol Aviation
- Brunswick County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit[65]
- Robeson County Sheriff's Office Aviation Division[66]
- Wayne County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit[67]
- Ohio
- Ohio State Highway Patrol Aviation Section[68]
- Cleveland Police Department Aviation Unit[69]
- Oregon
- Clackamas County Sheriff Air Support Unit - one Cessna 182[70]
- Portland Police Air Support Unit[71]
- Washington County (Oregon) Police Air Support Unit - a single Cessna R172, N575RW
- Oregon State Police Aviation Unit - four fixed-wing Cessnas[72]
- Pennsylvania
- Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Emergency and Special Operations Aviation Units[73]
- Philadelphia Police Aviation Unit[74]
- Puerto Rico
- Puerto Rico Joint Forces of Rapid Action
- Puerto Rico Natural Resources Ranger Corps Aerial Patrol[75]
- South Carolina
- Anderson County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Greenville County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Richland County Aviation
- Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- South Dakota
- South Dakota Highway Patrol Aviation Unit - One Cessna T206[76]
- Tennessee
- Jackson Police Department Aviation Unit
- Memphis Police Department Air Support Unit
- Metro Nashville Aviation Section
- Tennessee Highway Patrol Special Operations
- Texas
- Austin Police Department Air Enforcement Unit
- Bell County Regional Air Support Unit
- Dallas Police Department Helicopter Unit
- El Paso Police Department Aviation Unit
- Fort Worth Police Air Support Unit
- Houston Police Department Helicopter Patrol Unit
- San Antonio Police Helicopter Detail
- Texas Department of Public Safety Aircraft Section
- Utah
- Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau (helicopters)[77]
- Utah County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit
- Virginia
- Cheseapeake Sheriff's Pprjext Lifesaver International Aviation Unit
- Virginia State Police 3 airplanes, 7 helicopters[78]
- Fairfax County Police Department Helicopter Division (two helicopters)[79]
- Henrico County Metro Aviation Unit[80]
- Richmond City Metro Police Aviation Unit
- Richmond Metro Police Aviation Unit
- Virginia Beach Police Department Special Operations Aviation Unit[81]
- Washington
- King County Sheriff's Office Air Support (three helicopters)[82][83]
- Pierce County Sheriff's Department Air Operations - two Cessna 206s[84]
- Snohomish County Sheriff's Office Air Support[85]
- Spokane County Sheriff's Office (three helicopters)[86]
- Washington State Patrol: Special Operations Division: Aviation Section[87]
- West Virginia
- West Virginia State Police Aviation Section[88]
- Wisconsin
- Wisconsin State Patrol Air Support Unit[89]
Disbanded police aviation units
- Nevada Highway Patrol Flight Operations
- PAPD Aviation
- Gainesville Police Aviation Unit, Florida
Border guards and customs services
Maritime law enforcement agencies
Uganda Police Airwing Piaggio Avanti Evo P180 Sokol W3A Augusta 109SP Bell 206L
See also
References
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{{cite web}}
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The newest addition to the LVMPD aircraft fleet is an Airbus H145, making the department the first law enforcement agency in the continental US to operate the type
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Utah Highway Patrol's Aero Bureau
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The Special Operations Division is comprised of the Aviation Section and the Executive Services Section. The Division also oversees the Awards Committee.
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External links
- Atlanta’s bombing fallout (Law Enforcement News)
- Aviation Units in Large Law Enforcement Agencies Bureau of Justice Statistics
- Blimp to provide convention coverage for police (CNN)
- Defender BN2T-4S operated by Irish Air Corps for Gardai (Irish police force)
- Police Aviation News
- UK Police Air Support Information & Operational Info + Gallery