UK Police helicopter budget cuts
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Here....
Met Police spends millions of pounds on secret aircraft - Telegraph
Met Police spends millions of pounds on secret aircraft - Telegraph
Met Police spends millions of pounds on secret aircraft
The Metropolitan Police has secret spy planes capable of eavesdropping on mobile phone calls from the sky.
By Jason Lewis, Investigations Editor, and Andy Blackmore 9:00PM BST 29 Oct
The existence of the fleet of planes - each costing at least £3 million to purchase and hundreds of thousands more to operate - has never been publicly disclosed.
The police have being using the planes since at least 1997.
The disclosure of the spending, which is not detailed in official accounts, comes as the police face 20 per cent cuts in their budget, creating fears that hundreds of support staff will lose their jobs and the number of officers reduced.
Despite the cuts the Met's secret fixed wing aircraft fleet is still flying regular sorties over London from a base at Farnborough airfield, in Hampshire.
The planes have apparently been fitted with secret surveillance equipment capable of intercepting mobile phone calls or eavesdropping on conversations.
They are understood to be similar to surveillance planes available to MI5 which have been used in anti-terrorism operations and were used to help West Midlands Police track suspects connected to a plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier.
One of the planes is a Cessna F04, which can carry up to 14 passengers or be fitted with specially integrated patrol mission packs. We have been asked not to disclose full details of the aircraft on security grounds.
The twin engine craft are operated separately from the Met's Air Support Unit which has three helicopters and flies hundreds of hours a month in support of police operations around the capital at a cost of £3 million a year.
Last week a Metropolitan Police spokesman refused to discuss its use of the fixed wing aircraft but insisted it has gone through a "full" procurement process.
However members of the Metropolitan Police Authority, which scrutinises the force's spending said they had never been told of the existence of the aircraft.
According to Civil Aviation Authority records, the aircraft is registered to a firm called Nor Leasing.
There is no trace of the firm on any other official record and its business address registered with the CAA is actually a branch of Mail Boxes Etc, which offers a virtual office services and mail forwarding, in Surbiton, south-west London.
Another Cessna was also previously registered to Nor Leasing at the same address and at another service address in Kensington, west London.
In 1997 one of the original individuals listed as "trading as" Nor Leasing was John Carnt who at the time was a senior Metropolitan Police detective.
Superintendent Carnt was the then head of the Serious and Economic Crime Group, which was set up to combat major fraud, money laundering and art and antiques thefts.
The pattern of hidden spending is believed to have been established by Tony Williams, a former assistant finance director at Scotland Yard, who established a secret web of companies for use in specialist undercover operations.
But Mr Williams also used the same techniques to steal millions of pounds from the force to set himself up as a bogus Scottish "laird". Williams was accused of stealing more than £4 million from Scotland Yard. He was jailed for seven years in 1995.
Metropolitan Police Authority member James Cleverly last night said he was totally unaware that the Met had any fixed wing aircraft.
Mr Cleverly, who also sits on the authority's counter terrorism and protective services committee, which examines the force's covert work, said: "This is not something that I have been made aware of or have had the opportunity to scrutinise.
"In the light of the tight financial situation we are facing and the cuts being imposed on the police service it is imperative that we examine any assets that could be construed as a 'luxury'.
"I would expect full disclosure of details of this to the MPA to enable us to examine whether it represents good value for money for the police service."
The Metropolitan Police has secret spy planes capable of eavesdropping on mobile phone calls from the sky.
By Jason Lewis, Investigations Editor, and Andy Blackmore 9:00PM BST 29 Oct
The existence of the fleet of planes - each costing at least £3 million to purchase and hundreds of thousands more to operate - has never been publicly disclosed.
The police have being using the planes since at least 1997.
The disclosure of the spending, which is not detailed in official accounts, comes as the police face 20 per cent cuts in their budget, creating fears that hundreds of support staff will lose their jobs and the number of officers reduced.
Despite the cuts the Met's secret fixed wing aircraft fleet is still flying regular sorties over London from a base at Farnborough airfield, in Hampshire.
The planes have apparently been fitted with secret surveillance equipment capable of intercepting mobile phone calls or eavesdropping on conversations.
They are understood to be similar to surveillance planes available to MI5 which have been used in anti-terrorism operations and were used to help West Midlands Police track suspects connected to a plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier.
One of the planes is a Cessna F04, which can carry up to 14 passengers or be fitted with specially integrated patrol mission packs. We have been asked not to disclose full details of the aircraft on security grounds.
The twin engine craft are operated separately from the Met's Air Support Unit which has three helicopters and flies hundreds of hours a month in support of police operations around the capital at a cost of £3 million a year.
Last week a Metropolitan Police spokesman refused to discuss its use of the fixed wing aircraft but insisted it has gone through a "full" procurement process.
However members of the Metropolitan Police Authority, which scrutinises the force's spending said they had never been told of the existence of the aircraft.
According to Civil Aviation Authority records, the aircraft is registered to a firm called Nor Leasing.
There is no trace of the firm on any other official record and its business address registered with the CAA is actually a branch of Mail Boxes Etc, which offers a virtual office services and mail forwarding, in Surbiton, south-west London.
Another Cessna was also previously registered to Nor Leasing at the same address and at another service address in Kensington, west London.
In 1997 one of the original individuals listed as "trading as" Nor Leasing was John Carnt who at the time was a senior Metropolitan Police detective.
Superintendent Carnt was the then head of the Serious and Economic Crime Group, which was set up to combat major fraud, money laundering and art and antiques thefts.
The pattern of hidden spending is believed to have been established by Tony Williams, a former assistant finance director at Scotland Yard, who established a secret web of companies for use in specialist undercover operations.
But Mr Williams also used the same techniques to steal millions of pounds from the force to set himself up as a bogus Scottish "laird". Williams was accused of stealing more than £4 million from Scotland Yard. He was jailed for seven years in 1995.
Metropolitan Police Authority member James Cleverly last night said he was totally unaware that the Met had any fixed wing aircraft.
Mr Cleverly, who also sits on the authority's counter terrorism and protective services committee, which examines the force's covert work, said: "This is not something that I have been made aware of or have had the opportunity to scrutinise.
"In the light of the tight financial situation we are facing and the cuts being imposed on the police service it is imperative that we examine any assets that could be construed as a 'luxury'.
"I would expect full disclosure of details of this to the MPA to enable us to examine whether it represents good value for money for the police service."
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In Sunday's Grauniad: it's been mentioned occasionally on PPRuNe before, but usually beadwindow has been called 
Long article, too much to quote here 
Britain's largest police force is operating covert surveillance technology that can masquerade as a mobile phone network, transmitting a signal that allows authorities to shut off phones remotely, intercept communications and gather data about thousands of users in a targeted area.
The surveillance system has been procured by the Metropolitan police from Leeds-based company Datong plc, which counts the US Secret Service, the Ministry of Defence and regimes in the Middle East among its customers. Strictly classified under government protocol as "Listed X", it can emit a signal over an area of up to an estimated 10 sq km, forcing hundreds of mobile phones per minute to release their unique IMSI and IMEI identity codes, which can be used to track a person's movements in real time.
The surveillance system has been procured by the Metropolitan police from Leeds-based company Datong plc, which counts the US Secret Service, the Ministry of Defence and regimes in the Middle East among its customers. Strictly classified under government protocol as "Listed X", it can emit a signal over an area of up to an estimated 10 sq km, forcing hundreds of mobile phones per minute to release their unique IMSI and IMEI identity codes, which can be used to track a person's movements in real time.
Chief Bottle Washer
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Are they part of NPAS ?????
The pattern of hidden spending......
is the details of how proposed savings will be achieved, and precisely what the improvements in efficiency will be !
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I am slightly out of the loop but it can't be long before the NPAS regime will start, for better or worse.
Can anyone advise whether there is a pilot or engineer actually within the NPAS management exercising some management influence? I suspect with the departure of the ex-Home Office Police aviation adviser some time ago, there is not.
This begins to shape up like so many AOC start-ups that I have seen (and one or two that I have been involved in). Someone falls in love with aviation and thinks that because they have run a brewery/supermarket chain/doctor's surgery/police "business" unit (delete as necessary) that they can setup a helicopter (P)AOC without any real aviation management input. It ALWAYS ends in disaster.
I accept this may be a rhetorical question, as you can't rock the boat too much if you want to stay in it.
You would have thought that the CAA might at least be warning NPAS of this, unless some sort of political influence is being applied.
Can anyone advise whether there is a pilot or engineer actually within the NPAS management exercising some management influence? I suspect with the departure of the ex-Home Office Police aviation adviser some time ago, there is not.
This begins to shape up like so many AOC start-ups that I have seen (and one or two that I have been involved in). Someone falls in love with aviation and thinks that because they have run a brewery/supermarket chain/doctor's surgery/police "business" unit (delete as necessary) that they can setup a helicopter (P)AOC without any real aviation management input. It ALWAYS ends in disaster.
I accept this may be a rhetorical question, as you can't rock the boat too much if you want to stay in it.
You would have thought that the CAA might at least be warning NPAS of this, unless some sort of political influence is being applied.
At the moment I think its fair to say there is no-one who fits the title ' pilot or engineer actually within the NPAS management' exactly....
That said it is clear that there is someone with an aviation background and a number of people with 'better' qualifications are being plugged into the core as the project progresses.
A number of long in the tooth Unit Executive Officer [UEO] names have been linked with the project recently.... so that provides some management input with assumed skills .... nothing on pilots yet but they still have 5 months until they go live and in any case they will be picking up the traces of a [near] living entity so its not as if they are starting from cold.
Still no news on whether the other Police Authorities have all signed up [just SYP being a 'No'].
Now that sounded almost positive!
That said it is clear that there is someone with an aviation background and a number of people with 'better' qualifications are being plugged into the core as the project progresses.
A number of long in the tooth Unit Executive Officer [UEO] names have been linked with the project recently.... so that provides some management input with assumed skills .... nothing on pilots yet but they still have 5 months until they go live and in any case they will be picking up the traces of a [near] living entity so its not as if they are starting from cold.
Still no news on whether the other Police Authorities have all signed up [just SYP being a 'No'].
Now that sounded almost positive!
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A number of long in the tooth Unit Executive Officer [UEO] names have been linked with the project recently....
I hope they don't have any short sighted views and are ALL looking "Beyond the Horizon"
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TC altogether a bit of a buggers muddle. It does make one wonder why the NPAS team are so reluctant to give out detail of the financial position, and who would, or indeed has, signed up to what could be a bit of a blank cheque. 
Rats & Sinking ships?
Whats this I hear about the old UEO's?
Surely this is not a case of furry rodents abandoning their floating homes?
Despite stories to the contrary I am not dead, just badly wounded by my erstwhile chums, twas surely the Ides of March! But the wounds in the back are healing now and I'm watching this space!
Lookout! Ol Grumpy's back
Tigerfish
Surely this is not a case of furry rodents abandoning their floating homes?
Despite stories to the contrary I am not dead, just badly wounded by my erstwhile chums, twas surely the Ides of March! But the wounds in the back are healing now and I'm watching this space!
Lookout! Ol Grumpy's back
Tigerfish
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At the moment I think its fair to say there is no-one who fits the title ' pilot or engineer actually within the NPAS management' exactly....
You know, the gibbering freight in the back, that actually do all the police work.!
Its lining up to be a typical police c*ck up..!
One where theyve asked everyones opinion, and got all sorts of "experts" out.
Everyone except the people actually doing the work, day in day out. !
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Extract from NPIA NPAS Briefing March 2011
At the NPAS Symposium meeting held in Ryton last October, practitioner volunteers were sought to attend Regional and Task Specific Workstream Workshops where detail could be discussed and issues raised, in order to help shape the new air service.
The Workstreams and Chairs’ are;
HR - Simon Newman
Training - Neil Terrill
National Data Set - DUEO Martin Knowles
Observers - T/Supt Richard Watson
Procurement - Neil Terrill
Pilots - Captain Steve Isacke
Command & Control - Andy Mahoney
Maintenance - Neil Terrill
The Workstreams and Chairs’ are;
HR - Simon Newman
Training - Neil Terrill
National Data Set - DUEO Martin Knowles
Observers - T/Supt Richard Watson
Procurement - Neil Terrill
Pilots - Captain Steve Isacke
Command & Control - Andy Mahoney
Maintenance - Neil Terrill