123,
used wisely, police helicopters have an important role in crime prevention too. It is often forgotten, but they change criminal behaviour in all sorts of ways. There are lots of examples where the scrotes changed their behaviour when helicopters have been introduced, or changed their deployment to focus on certain criminal activity.
If the NPAS proposals see the light of day as declared, I suspect we will see some criminal behaviour changing back to what it used to be before a rapid airborne response became likely. Because response times in some places will be much longer, the crims may change their behaviour and be much more relaxed about what they are doing.
Whether or not those changes will be reported is another matter.
The actions of the "recipients" of the air support service demonstrate its power, by repeatedly trying to destroy it, as criminals have over the last few years. They would not bother to do that, if they did not think it was effective in helping to catch them and/or prevent them engaging in their business.
Last edited by Helinut; 3rd Jul 2011 at 12:44.
Reason: To add last paragraph