whitehead
TR won't accept the value of what we do, and I guess that he's not alone.
You couldn't possibly be more wrong! I'm a huge fan of police air support. I accept, for disagreeing with the received view of safety here, I have become something of a whipping boy for many issues. But you should not ascribe to me views which I have never expressed!
As I have said previously, I have seven years experience in the role at a very busy metropolitan unit. I also did precisely the same job in a fixed wing (a
HUGELY underrated asset in these cost conscious times!)
NPAS looks to me like a total disaster for the role of aerial support. The shorter the response of the aerial asset, so the results improve exponentially! We pursued armed robbers from the scene of a raid, mostly because we were airborne when the call came in, and with no information whatsoever, I spotted a car with an open sunroof. On an overcast day in December!! There was a period in the early nineties when we had additional flying hours financed purely for patrolling the urban area! Police aviation has probably
NEVER been more effective than those times! Times that I lived through! And as I also said previously, times that for me began at the very basic genesis of police aviation!
It's a tragedy that cost cutting (and nothing else!) has led to the second rate policing we have now.
But just because I want the guys on board, and those below to be as safe as they can possibly be, don't you dare corrupt that into painting me as just another ignoramus with no appreciation!