Police chopper a YouTube star

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/06/2012 (5109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s getting easier for Winnipeggers to keep an eye on the police helicopter that keeps an eye on Winnipeg.

Videos of arrests involving the helicopter were launched on YouTube on Thursday. This is the second time police have released such videos.

“Our plan is to release videos of interest on a regular basis,” said Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen.

Police said Thursday a dedicated website outlining the helicopter’s activities is under consideration.

“The ideal at the end of the day would be having a specific website, everybody can go to it, see everything about the helicopter, we update it all the time. That’s what we’re moving toward,” said police Chief Keith McCaskill, who was at a press conference outlining the aircraft’s activities.

He said the police helicopter had a successful first year of operation despite engine problems that kept it grounded for a total of 27 days last year.

On Thursday, the police service released its report on the helicopter’s first year of operation. It shows the aircraft attended 1,780 incidents between February and December 2011, including 189 break-and-enters, 135 reports of a suspicious person and 109 traffic stops. The report said the helicopter’s presence was “essential” to the outcome of several calls and helped lead to 127 arrests. The aircraft flew a total of 976.5 hours in its first year but was grounded for a total of 18 days due to weather and 27 days due to unscheduled maintenance.

Insp. Mike Herman said the helicopter costs an average of about $35,000 a month for items such as fuel and insurance, not including officers’ salaries.

The report said the helicopter’s engine oil needed to be flushed due to contamination last March, and the engine was swapped the following month and removed and reinstalled in July. In September, the engine was swapped again due to metal contamination, removed and reinstalled. Air1 flew just 48.8 hours in March 2011 and 47.5 hours in July 2011. The monthly average in 2011 was 81.3 flight hours.

Police data show Air1 was involved in two of 29 pursuits in 2011. In 27 other cases, the helicopter was not involved, including five instances where the duration of the pursuit was brief, six cases where Air1 was grounded and 13 instances when it was off-duty.

The report said the presence of Air1 was recognized as an “operational success” and helped in arrests including the apprehension of a man who fled with a gun and a man involved in a downtown carjacking.

“Anecdotal reports throughout the year confirm that the attendance of Air1 can indirectly influence criminal activity — essentially where the presence of the helicopter was perceived to prevent or suppress crime — although crime prevention is impossible to measure,” the report said. Previously released Winnipeg Police Service data show the aircraft spent more time on the ground than in the air in early 2012 due to maintenance issues and a pilot shortage.

The helicopter flew an average of 43.1 hours a month between January and March 2012, down from an average of 75.8 hours a month in the same period last year.

Colin Craig, director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for Manitoba, said it would be helpful if the report compared Winnipeg’s police chopper with those in use in other cities.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca