Heads
We have two observers because that (for us) is the optimum crew complement. The pilot drives. The front Observer operates the camera and the rear observer is the 'tactical co-ordinater' (that's my description not official). The aircraft is on call for many tasks (and to counter your point we feel here in the west mids that we have exactly the right amount of flying hours for one aircraft per year.). The most obvious situation where two observers are necessary is in a pursuit. As you will be aware from the national press police pursuits are a hot topic at the moment. The West Mids are at the forefront of attempts to find safer ways of conducting pursuits. The helicopter is of course a major tool in this activity. The pilots job is to fly the aircraft. The front observers job is to operate the camera system. The rear observers job is to provide a commentary and suggest tactical deployment of resources. The rear observer is the only one who can do this, and believe me it is probably the hardest job in the aircraft, in an urban area the commentary is given by reference to an A to Z and we tend to move across the pages of one of those fairly rapidly, (none of us have a complete gazeteer of a major metropolitan area in our heads, a street plan is the only tool). The front observer has too narrow a field of view when he is on the camera and very little situational awareness because he is heads down. The pilot can't do it because he has to safely operate the aircraft and follow visually the target vehicle (and his primary radio is of course ATC).
The attempt to open up the debate is fine but we don't sit here fat, dumb and happy, we are constantly looking at our costs and effectiveness (and so is the rest of the force!). Whether you like it or not, the current regulations are the ones we have to operate within. They are unlikely to change (in fact they will probably get more onerous). We do not consider any of our equipment as 'toys', if we don't need it, we don't have it. The whole of the Police Service is under financial pressure (Council Tax Setting time always brings it into the public eye), air operations are no exception to that.
As a pilot (how pompous!), I too would like to see more helicopter pilot jobs around. But the function of Police air operations units is not to provide jobs for pilots. It is to provide a cost effective airborne platform to assist the officers on the ground to carry out their role. In the current environment a small to medium sized twin is that platform.
