fourwd1
Member
Howard's police aviation program is ending in response to looming countywide deficit
They even expect to sell the 12 yr old helo for $1.5 mil.
They even expect to sell the 12 yr old helo for $1.5 mil.
Howard County shutting down Aviation unit
- Thread starter fourwd1
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Sad. These political clowns will sell out a public safety agencies budget, equipment before their lavish ceo overpaid salaries take a hit. It's sickening. I get into arguments all the time with our local political morons and them wanting to cut our funding back before their own interests.
marksmith
Member
AA County was up more often than Howard, and it seemed I monitored more AACO police air coverage in Howard than their own unit.
AACO will be flying west more on police issues, but Troopers generally don't supply air police services to counties. Just search and rescue or EMS transport, like they do for all counties.
AACO finds themselves involved with Howard police pursuits from time to time, some that don't get close to AACO.
Mark
SDS100&200/536/436/WS1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
AACO will be flying west more on police issues, but Troopers generally don't supply air police services to counties. Just search and rescue or EMS transport, like they do for all counties.
AACO finds themselves involved with Howard police pursuits from time to time, some that don't get close to AACO.
Mark
SDS100&200/536/436/WS1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
markgrutz
Member
I can't say where I came by this, but HoCo is in the foreground and the two AaCo are in the background. What is not in the picture is the original HoCo ship that had been stripped of engine, blades, and most of the parts. This is the one they "crashed" back in 2013 where the tail was damaged. I guess $1000+/hr to just tour the county by air got to be too much.
In this day and age where sUAS platforms are capable of doing surveillance and FLIR work for pennies on the dollar (think $34k vs $2+mil), I think helicopters will become more and more limited in the scope of their use. Heck drone platforms can be tethered and flown as long as they have 120v power and aren't really limited by battery life in some cases. You figure most sUAS are portable and can be packed in a patrol vehicle, deployed in minutes and provide real time video feed, and are a lot quieter than a helicopter over the scene as well.
In this day and age where sUAS platforms are capable of doing surveillance and FLIR work for pennies on the dollar (think $34k vs $2+mil), I think helicopters will become more and more limited in the scope of their use. Heck drone platforms can be tethered and flown as long as they have 120v power and aren't really limited by battery life in some cases. You figure most sUAS are portable and can be packed in a patrol vehicle, deployed in minutes and provide real time video feed, and are a lot quieter than a helicopter over the scene as well.
marksmith
Member
A lot of good points about drones as opposed to helicopters.I can't say where I came by this, but HoCo is in the foreground and the two AaCo are in the background. What is not in the picture is the original HoCo ship that had been stripped of engine, blades, and most of the parts. This is the one they "crashed" back in 2013 where the tail was damaged. I guess $1000+/hr to just tour the county by air got to be too much.
In this day and age where sUAS platforms are capable of doing surveillance and FLIR work for pennies on the dollar (think $34k vs $2+mil), I think helicopters will become more and more limited in the scope of their use. Heck drone platforms can be tethered and flown as long as they have 120v power and aren't really limited by battery life in some cases. You figure most sUAS are portable and can be packed in a patrol vehicle, deployed in minutes and provide real time video feed, and are a lot quieter than a helicopter over the scene as well.
Mark
SDS100&200/536/436/WS1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
Drones and helicopters have two different purposes in law enforcement.
Drones are fine when you are in a limited area like searching for a missing person in a park or taking video of a crime scene or crash scene
For patrol work though and calling pursuits drones don't work well because you will have to keep moving the drone operator to stay in range
Not to mention as soon as you mention the "d word". Half of the community advocates are up in arms over privacy violations. Even though using helicopters don't raise their concerns for some reason.
Drones are fine when you are in a limited area like searching for a missing person in a park or taking video of a crime scene or crash scene
For patrol work though and calling pursuits drones don't work well because you will have to keep moving the drone operator to stay in range
Not to mention as soon as you mention the "d word". Half of the community advocates are up in arms over privacy violations. Even though using helicopters don't raise their concerns for some reason.
markgrutz
Member
Oh yea, absolutely each has it's own purpose. Having had the opportunity to operate the camera systems on news helicopters before, I'd be far more concerned about what that camera can see from 1000 feet versus what a drone can see from 200. Its always amazed me how people flip over using a drone, but have no problem with Google shooting satellite pictures routinely, or the Google Street View car cruising through their neighborhoods, or every retail shop in the country having CCTV, or cities having crime watch camera systems... you are on TV almost the entire time you are out of your house anymore.... but OMG a DRONE!!! 
My thoughts were more about supplementing the mutual aid program with AA County with the use of sUAS platforms for the day to day BS stuff that doesn't require the cost and distance coverage of a helicopter. I am not sure what that would look like from a program development point of view, but I think it's possible to do with civilian personnel much like their auxiliary program or their mounted patrol unit.
My thoughts were more about supplementing the mutual aid program with AA County with the use of sUAS platforms for the day to day BS stuff that doesn't require the cost and distance coverage of a helicopter. I am not sure what that would look like from a program development point of view, but I think it's possible to do with civilian personnel much like their auxiliary program or their mounted patrol unit.
n3bxv
Member
From the Capital- Gazette in 2014 -
“Anne Arundel and Howard initially merged efforts in 2000. In 2008, the two counties formally combined their flight crews, which share aircraft and missions, Mulcahy said.”
Police patrol skies over Anne Arundel, Howard counties
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
“Anne Arundel and Howard initially merged efforts in 2000. In 2008, the two counties formally combined their flight crews, which share aircraft and missions, Mulcahy said.”
Police patrol skies over Anne Arundel, Howard counties
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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