Clueless
Well that seems to be the common trait here for the decision makers, from government level right to the senior management.
It’s getting worse and the papers today seem to point to labour now realising that there not going to get in next time round. (Not that any other party will be any better)
Police air support is expensive there is no getting around that, eurocopter uk don’t help much by adding so much extra money onto the cost of common parts. But with a tool that gets used more and more each day and for some of the most serious and dangerous tasks why would you want any one inside that aircraft who is not the best person for the job.
Some one who has been on the front line, who has chased a car at high speed, who has chased an offender in the dark, who has been on a firearms unit and knows how difficult it really is pointing a gun at some one. Who has held the hand of a dying person at the scene of an accident, who has has to tell a family member that there Alzheimer’s suffering mother has been found dead in a field. Has a PCSO, NO has a special NO.
All these are jobs where a police helicopter makes a difference it makes me sick to live in a country where the people in charge put a price on a person’s life.