J.A.F.O.
Shy - How right you are but, as Art said, there's no ideal model when money's tight.
But money is being wasted somewhere, the NPAS system is soon proving to be less effective, albeit for the same money being taken from some individual Police forces. At least this appears to be so, according to the Suffolk report above.
So if Suffolk are getting fewer hours flown, is any other force gaining those hours, or are they just "lost" in the system because it cannot provide them?
If the latter is true, this is proving to be one almighty Police Farce.