NPAS Redhill
 

Drifted over from other forums, only to ask if the Redhill machine detects major local crime, regularly on Saturday nights, or if night "hover" practice close to Redhill is essential. It lasts for over 30 min. and I'm sure is annoying to many other residents trying to sleep.

PS from ex ,RAF 110/103 sqd, Westland helo., S61 LAE/ Crewman Sumburgh, Rtd. BA and FI/FE at Redhill/Lydd.

Pembroke, if this relates to last night then this job may refer.

http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps035bf20c.jpg

As Satcop said. Next time your house has been burgled or a close relative goes missing or even you, NPAS Redhill will bear your comments in mind.....or they will act in a professional manner and try to locate the miscreant/relative/you to utmost of their and the equipments ability. With a CV like you claim, you should know better.

I think you will find that pilots experienced enough to fly police helicopters certainly don't need to carry out "practice" hovering on a Saturday night. Like you, they would prefer to be be in bed. It's a thankless job, but thank goodness some are prepared to do it.

It always amazes me that people who claim to have impressive aviation backgrounds make the most naive and ridiculous assumptions about their colleagues.

You don't appear to understand their role, why don't you pop in and chat to them? You'll find that they are friendly, professional and responsible aviators just like you.

All the above is valid and thanks for the replies. I was simply trying to ascertain if it was a regular exercise, working with Surrey police. This is considered a low crime area and NPAS is an expensive deployment, I assume only to be used "in extremis". It would be interesting to ask Surrey police via FOI the number of calls at night in this area and the severity of crime involved. Does "miscreant" from a house burglary warrant a helicopter?
Re the CV, it's correct but I am also speaking as a local resident and tax payer, Air Cadet CI, pro aviation/NPAS, supporter of EGKR hard runway etc.

pembroke - Do I take it from your last post that you don't think that your local police force should take all possible steps to locate and detain someone who burgled your house?

Why be all high and mighty and ask via an FOI, why not phone the unit, chat to the nice people there, ask (given your background) if you might have a look around or just look on twitter?

Heaven forbid, a police helicopter working with ... the police :ugh:


Pembroke;
Occupation
Snr. FI/FE Lydd aero club (retired BA).

Your Canterbury

People in glass houses!!

Your 'upsetting flying' is for recreation, the NPAS Redhill 'upsetting flying' is, in the words of Surrey Police's Public First Strategy;

.. part of 'a vision delivering safe, satisfied and confident communities and relentlessly pursuing those that undermine them.'

The Surrey Public First strategy means:
• Keeping the public safe
• Ensuring they have confidence we´ll be there if they need us
• The relentless pursuit of criminals


Pembroke = Nimby :=

Surrey Police Values

"Each person has a unique lens through which they see the world .... "

http://www.surrey.police.uk/Portals/0/pdf/Our-Values.pdf

:rolleyes:

Probably best to stop now, I am thoroughly chastised. I will have a chat with the unit asap. rgds

When the police helicopter was based at Fairoaks, there were often complaints about its night operations.
Usually from traveller camps.

HA HA! Mr Chevron, that tickled me!! And oh so very true.

Nice one!:ok:

Not just complaints either. :eek:

Yes, complaining with an axe in your hand and wearing a balaclava, or driving a stolen fire engine through the hangar doors is a bit extreme, but I guess they got the result they were after.

The units I worked at had security surveys done after that and the other incidents, i remember the idea of a high fence around the pad and hangar was costed at around £85K, so it was binned and it was decided we'd put it away after every job as that didn't cost anything.....apart from the resulting increase in response times.

Art - I think you'd better stop there, although the ones you were talking about are now better protected, I understand.

Most of those who do this job, and (as others have said) would far rather be in their beds at 0300, are acutely aware that the very significant majority of those they hover over are law-abiding citizens. However these residents also wish to see their property and community protected from the sh!tbags who like to spoil their environment. So there's a dilemma when policing such tasks from the air - keep the annoyance factor low by spending as little time overhead, or try to find the little b*ggar so that he/she doesn't terrorise some other family/household on Sunday night!
Given that this sounds to have been close to Redhill, it's likely the team had a decent chance of getting to the job in a sensible timescale - not often possible in the last 20 months - so they'd probably spend a little longer searching for the suspect than if they'd flown a lot further for a similar job!!

You can have effective policing, or you can whinge until you get none - the residents' choice, and "threatening" FOI is the lowest form of bribery - it's one of the biggest drains of public money yet devised. :ugh:

And one other vital point to add which keeps being forgotten, the more the Police helicopter flies the more money it saves on the ground!! For money you can insert anything else like "hurt", "loss" etc....

Contact No for Borham unit
 

Hi i dont supose anyone could give me a contact number for the unit at Borham

Thanks

There isn't a unit at Borham......there is one at Boreham though.

Boreham though! ; is that anywhere near Boreham wood?

SS it is close to Boreham Stupid, which is not far from Boreham to death.

And the phone number is.........:mad:

:=:=