Jay - how can you just quote a few incidences where nothing really resulted from a callout and translate that into a condemnation of the usefulness of service in overall? Perhaps a little research into instances where people's lives have been saved might redress the great bias in your bean counter arguments.
There are certainly instances where drones might be useful, like policing football matches and I think ratepayers might be glad about savings there. We would all like to see more bobbies on the beat but I think most of the informed opinion here believes that helicopters should still be part of the mix. This is especially important in these days of increased threats from IS, al Qaeda and home grown jihadists and now would be very foolish time to remove a vital part of the police capabilities. We should also think of the deterrent effect the chance of being caught has had on some of the would-be burglars, car thieves and potential murderers.
I know you'll simply come back and say it doesn't really seem to have made a real difference, and quote some more tweets, but wait and see how pleasant life really becomes when the scrotes realise that their naughty old activities have suddenly become a lot easier to carry out. Perhaps you live in a nice area that doesn't need much serious policing, with those annoying, noisy old helicopters buzzing around, but there are many in the country who are reassured that someone is looking out for them.