Sid, thanks for the confirmation. It's important to emphasise that point. The unit I worked for was a joint forces one and we never did "patrol" due to correct management of the resource. We could easily overfly the maximum allowed costed hours on genuine task request responses.
Shy, What are the 2 most common expressions used by the public in reference to the police?
1. Aren't police officers looking young these days.
2. Why aren't there more officers on the beat.
a. Thanks to A19, they are looking so young because they are. I think I can safely say that every officer in the force that I until recently worked for, is younger than me!
b. Thanks to cutbacks and the red tape that still exists, despite claims that it is being reduced dramatically, there simply aren't enough officers to routinely patrol the streets, reassuring the public, serving our communities and protecting them from harm.
How can air support help with either of those main public concerns?
i. Well, with our greying hair and ruggedly handsome good looks, we can only do our best.
ii. I cannot believe that you honestly think routinely patrolling is a sign of bad management and a waste of money as opposed to having the ac sit in the hangar or on the dispersal all day, while the crews are waiting to be dispatched. Please tell me what is wrong, especially on a quiet day in NPAS (there's a reason why those radios are so quiet), for the ac to be taken up for an hours patrol where it can be seen to be around, can react immediately to any jobs that appear and can be up on patrol during times of known skulduggery, based on local knowledge.
Let me assure you that on these patrols, you can flit from one job to the next, finding people in gardens, following off road bikes, clearing large areas, searching canal towpaths, getting onto misper jobs, helping out that bobby that calls you direct to help them out etc etc ... all without the hassles of multiple control room talk and that immortal phrase, "Do you have a postcode?", even if it is a pursuit that the force control room needs the ac for. Its not unheard of to have to return for fuel in order to complete these tasks that, if the ac wasn't up doing these patrols, would have just seen the ac sat on the ground doing nothing, getting itself cleaned, helping no-one and fighting no crimes.
In the scope of things, what would it really cost for each NPAS unit to have an hour a day where, if it was quiet as far as dispatch was concerned, to self launch on a patrol based on local knowledge? (it doesn't
have to self patrol launch every day, just if there might be some bubbling's based on the 'bobbies nose')
Of course, this amount of busyness, I guess, only applies to the more urban areas, however as I've mentioned before how do you gauge a deterrent? Rural units, getting to know their patch and further afield better, may well deter some criminal activity or simply be in the right place at the right time for a job they can be called to having been seen in the area, a job that wouldn't normally get the request up the chain for. On a cold dark early morning, I have been glad of a little bit of previous bungee stretching, especially when the wind farm lights get closer while on a motorway pursuit!
I wonder what you would consider to be a better efficiency & management strategy; Having 3 different aircraft from 2 different regions en-route to the same misper job in Gloucester, or have an ac do a 30 min patrol when the local bobbies know something is bubbling out there, yet the dispatch chain radios remain quiet?
Just to remind us all;
NPAS Overview | West Yorkshire Police
NPAS Overview
The focus of NPAS is to deliver a more cost effective service, balancing the need to save money in a challenging economic environment against the need to ensure the police service has a quickly deployable asset that can be used to tackle crime and protect the public.
NPAS will ensure that essential air support continues to be delivered where it is required; ensuring that confidence in the service remains high. Forces will also be able to make use of a number of aircraft within each region meaning that the police service’s response will, in many cases, be enhanced over current provision. NPAS will be a truly national (England and Wales) policing service that will be at the heart of improving public safety. It will bring improvements in operational efficiencies and allow for the introduction of innovative contracts that offer better value for money for the service and the tax payer.