I saw where you were going Shy, however based on the previously mentioned local knowledge, the patrols were indeed effective. That effectiveness can be based on the tasks attended as a consequence. In addition to monitoring the OCU channels, having officers on the ground calling us up directly was a fantastic way of utilising the ac. 'I see you're in the area, can you help us out', is what the job is all about isn't it?
The unit I worked for was a joint forces one and we never did "patrol" due to correct management of the resource.
I would suggest that the patrols, certainly in our case, were an absolute correct management of the resource. The problem with a national outlook is that it doen't work locally.
As for the deterrent factor, that cannot be quantified.
We could easily overfly the maximum allowed costed hours on genuine task request responses
Surely that problem, especially with joint or rural forces and/or national resources, is more to do with transit times than time on task.
W06 said earlier, "
The sum total of the preceeding posts adds up to the end of Police Aviation. Not one mention of the whole raison detre of Police Air ops, catching or stopping criminal activity."
As the famous 'NPAS Downfall' video shown at the symposium says, "
We'll only ever get to Mispers".