Well I suppose that comment that you hate so much, may be as a direct result of Police Officers, who used to have quick access to air support, now having to wait longer for it.
Now let me see. Do you not think that that might just be as a result of the fleet being cut by a third!
You know, when you have your back to the wall, and the nasties are crowding in to get you. It was very heartening to know that help was just a few moments away. So that is why it is bloody annoying when someone then comes along, and removes that source of help and places it further away.
Its even more annoying when they tell bloody lies about it, and try & tell you that actually its much better for you, because you now have access to three helicopters instead of one. The fact that they are all bloody miles away is not much help when youv'e just had your head kicked in.
Perhaps that might be why the bobby on the beat is not so impressed with the new arrangement.
tigerfish
Sorry but that post is based purely on emotion and conjecture. More so it is proof that all of us on here are too far devolved from beat policing to be commenting on it, I count myself in that group. What I will say about policing are issues of fact not speculation.
A cops nose will always tell them that the suspect is there or not, cops being cops they will then take the easy way out, that may include a decision to avoid the paperwork or working over, but I stand by my previous post, if chummy is there after ten seconds and the containment is adequate he will be there in ten or fifteen minutes when the dog/helicopter arrives.
On the issue of an officer getting his head kicked in, I don't know what things were like in your day but from 1000 feet there is the square root of nothing that I can do to stop the poor sod on the ground getting beaten by a determined opponent, all I can do is wait until ground units arrive and direct them in to exact revenge.
Now both of the above are directly affected by officer numbers on the ground and we all know that they are being cut, by up to 20% in some places. That is not the fault of NPAS although it does seem to be getting the blame for most things these days.
I see from your posts that you foresaw these woes and were punished for that, presumably that was pre NPAS. Sadly those woes affect not only air support but cops on the ground, and to be brutal if you ask most cops which they would rather have, another fully crewed area car or a helicopter when you need it they would probably not be picking a helicopter, they will be wanting some relief from the constant call to call that they are now doing.
I am not NPAS public relations, I do have some concerns about NPAS but unlike others on here I am willing to give it a chance and see how it goes, not by shouting from the sidelines but by getting involved in the game.