I think this is the only positive comment that I came across:
Among those who lead police aviation, we have found high levels of skill, dedication and commitment. In particular, we recognise the major contributions made by the members of the NPAS National Strategic Board and especially by the current chief constable of West Yorkshire Police and the police and crime commissioner (PCC) for West Yorkshire.
I highlighted so many comments in the report that it's difficult to choose.
Since 2009, the number of police aircraft has been reduced from 33 to 19 and there has been a reduction of about 45 percent in the number of hours flown. There is some evidence to suggest that police officers are making less use of air support because it takes too long to arrive.
Well we all knew that. It was immediately evident with the formation of the North West Air Operations Group in 2011, the forerunner of NPAS.
We also found evidence that suggests that the way NPAS shift changes are scheduled has an adverse effect on aircraft availability at a particular time each day.
I raised that point back in 2011, about having Units all changing shifts at the same time.
There are strong indications that the police service now operates insufficient aircraft to provide consistently prompt responses to incidents in all forces in England and Wales.
No ****, Sherlock!
In 2008/09, the police service was operating 33 aircraft for an annual revenue cost of £45m, and initial calculations were that a national police air service could maintain a fleet of 29 helicopters for an annual revenue cost of £37.5m. In 2016/17, NPAS was operating 19 helicopters (with four fixed-wing aircraft still to come) with a revenue budget of £39.6m, an amount that represented a real-terms reduction in funding of about 28 percent since 2008/09. With each aircraft flying fewer hours on average, however, the cost per flying hour has doubled.
Not exactly "more effective and efficient".
Many frontline officers made it clear to us during our fieldwork, however, that a response time of up to one hour when dealing with a crime in action such as a burglary is far too long, and that the targets contained within the service level agreement are not fit for purpose.
Yep.
Professional practice requires air support for pursuits whenever possible and at the earliest opportunity, but officers in some forces told us that most pursuits ended before an aircraft could arrive. Some officers said that the delay was sometimes caused by NPAS questioning the necessity for air support in pursuit cases, and this made the work of pursuit and incident commanders more challenging, because they had to manage the pursuit without knowing if air support was a realistic tactical option.
I believe Pursuits were originally classed as Priority 2.
In one force, officers reported that the number of pursuits had risen from 100 in 2014 to 336 in 2016, and that debriefing of prisoners had revealed that part of the reason was criminal perception that the police no longer had ready access to helicopter support.
Well, fancy that.
Judgments
• There is no clear evidence that current arrangements are financially any more or less efficient than when forces managed their own air support, and costs are not shared equitably between forces.
• NPAS in its current form is financially unsustainable: the capital investment strategy has left NPAS without adequate funding to replace its ageing fleet of aircraft.
Pretty damning.
It was suggested that some forces were now requesting air support more frequently than they had before, monitoring an aircraft’s travel, and then cancelling the aircraft shortly before it arrived if they were satisfied that the incident could be managed without it. This meant that there was no ‘actioned call for service’ and so no charge would fall to the force,
Oooo, sneaky!
jayteetoo said:
My missus is a Merseyside bobby. When I talk to her colleagues, they ALL say “we don’t bother asking for a helicopter anymore, there’s just no point”
Actually:
In 2016, Merseyside Police made the most calls for air support, with a rate more than twice the average for forces in England and Wales.
One thing that is absent from the report is any reference to manning levels(or should I say "staffing" this days), and comments on single crewing and aircraft being offline due to sick pilots any no reliefs.
Well, I think that's enough for now.