NYPD is using their mechanics (A&P technicians, to be correct) to serve as winch operators. Similar in some other police and military ops. I believe French Gendarmerie and Securite Civile do the same.
In some other places (like UK RAF) winch operator is a full time specialist, trained to do only that job (and crosstrained with winchman, as stated above) There are pros and cons for dual role trained winch operators. PM me for more subtle explanation.