Sloppylink, I totally agree. In the late 1990s we had a very effective police support helicopter service in place and at a pretty good price (or at least, my unit was seen to be very good value; possibly because it covered two counties and provided coverage for at least two others when requested).
It wasn't the present government who £!$$ed taxpayers' money against the wall until there was none left and we couldn't afford what was already in place (ironically, initially put there to make the police more effective whilst saving money for the tax payer....).