Giovanni,
Very informative post; delighted for you that your operation has access to something which will make fixed-wing runway approaches easier and safer in poor visibility. Regrettably, it isn't really entirely applicable to the rotary, and specifically the police rotary task. We need to be able to see more than 30 degrees(hover references are commonly 60 degrees off-centre (the 2 o'clock position)), and we need something that doesn't require interpretation before the information is assimilated into our thick heli-pilot brains! Goggles (and remember even Gen2 had 40 degrees FOV, far from like looking through straws) allow the pilot to orient himself in space by pointing his head where he wants to look.
Semirigid,
It is unbecoming for me to assume to speak for Mr Lappos, but if you respect his opinion so much perhaps you ought to read it. He's posted on Page 2 of this thread, a sample herewith:
If regular police profiles are flown with goggles, they will be far safer than without goggles, and far safer than military NOE operations with goggles.
..and again on Page 3, where he is remarkably direct:
You sound like the guy who said, "Drowning isn't so bad, it's just water."
The "reasoned debate on the need and more importantly the use of them" is simple. Without them, you can't see squat. With them, you can see in the dark, and that makes you safer. Sorry I wasn't so clear in the first post.
We have blundered anong without such devices for decades, now we don't have to.
Which rather suggests that your second, "balanced" question is irrelevant having already been answered twice. By using the word "balance" you appear to suggest it should be IR or NVG, that the 2 are are somehow opposed and mutually exclusive. Am I wrong to reach this conclusion?
Oh, and I don't think dinosaurs wore NVG - you may find that progress occurs once all the pilots who've NEVER operated with it have moved on to their next career choice. This will allow those who appreciate NVG's operational and Flight Safety benefits to spread their experience to the police world.
edited to move a misplaced "quote" box