Nessie1, Its a historical thing really. When UK Police Aviation was at the height of its development in the first 10 years of this millennium, there were something like 27 units in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, based on groups of Forces that had got together to provide mutual air support in their area. That system had well over 30 Helicopters in service and provided adequate coverage across the UK. The forces co-operated well with each other and tend to mutually support each other during maintenance down time etc. The one exception was Scotland were only one Force (Strathclyde) established air support. The remaining Scottish forces were either too small or not convinced that they had a use for air support. So it was when the Scottish Forces all combined into one, they only established with one Helicopter and it has remained so ever since. NPAS was never intended to increase Air Support, but was rather an asset shedding organisation and as such was never going to increase coverage. It could have been so much better, the idea of a National Police Air Wing was great but the way it was put together fatally flawed. The ONLY intention being to cut back on service provision and costs.
TF