Most of will have seen a dark blue and yellow helicopter hovering over Oxford from time-to-time. This Eurocopter aircraft belongs to a three-force consortium of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire constabularies. Helicopters are expensive things and the police must feel the aircraft offers significant support to its operations or they wouldn’t pay for it. To find out more we invited one of the tactical flight officers down to the squadron to tell us how he earns his pay. (Ed.)
PC Andy Cadd has been a copper for 17 years. He started walking the beat in Cowley before getting a car in Bicester and then finally transferring to the air unit seven years ago. The air support unit has been flying since 1963. The current aircraft, which is painted blue and yellow to make it easy to see, is crewed by a single ex-military pilot and two police officers. The two crew are specially trained and act as camera operator and unit commander. The unit commander’s role is a very busy one; they have to work the radio, liase with ground units and navigate the aircraft at low levels day and night. PC Cadd’s unit is based at RAF Benson, but the consortium also owns another aircraft based at Luton Airport. The aircraft is equipped with special navigation systems, a high intensity spotlight and a 700 W public address system. In addition they carry day and night cameras which can be aimed towards an address by typing in the postcode! The cameras can read a number plate or recognize a face from 1000 ft and are gyro-stabilised to take court-quality pictures despite and turbulence the aircraft may experience. In addition to supporting police operations the air support unit can undertake cas-evac. Indeed, at night they are the only air evacuation unit since the local air ambulance does not have night flying capabilities. From time-to-time they are asked to help ground units plan operations. They can operate very quietly when they need to, and can scope-out buildings for escape routes and entry points before a raid is planned. Last year the helicopter attended 325 vehicle pursuits, made 395 arrests possible and found 26 missing persons. They airlifted 38 people to hospital. The decision to use the helicopter is made on a case-by-case basis and only ever based on the merits of the case. Cost is never considered.
Last Updated on Saturday, 05 December 2009 00:46