Mayor concerned about use of police helicopter in movie

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This article was published 09/01/2018 (3182 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A day after city police defended loaning out the service’s helicopter for a film shoot, Mayor Brian Bowman restated his criticism of the decision.

“It is a highly specialized, unique piece of equipment. If something had happened to that helicopter while it was out of the city, we don’t have a replacement that we would be able to get. That’s where I had concerns with it being used,” Bowman told reporters Tuesday during a press conference.

The mayor said he raised his concerns to Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth, although stopped short of telling the Winnipeg Police Service not to do it again.

“It’s a public asset being used for a private movie shoot. Given that it’s one of a kind, I think it should be used for the safety of the WPS and members of the public, not to help a private sector movie shoot.”

City police counter that loaning out the helicopter posed no risk to public safety, arguing it was seconds away from city limits at all times should it have received a call to respond.

The $3.5-million helicopter was used in the filming of The Parts You Lose, starring Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad, in La Salle, roughly 20 kilometres outside city limits.

The helicopter was in use for 72 minutes including travel time and was filmed flying two patterns over the set, according to police.

The request to use the Air-1 helicopter for the film came from Kenny Boyce, the city’s manager of film and special events. The city was unable to accommodate an interview request for Boyce Tuesday.

In 2016, the annual operating cost of the helicopter was $1.9 million. That year Air-1 logged 732 hours of flight time and responded to 1,571 calls, according to statistics previously released by police.