Regional Airborne LE Programs
There are very few successful airborne law enforcement integrated programs in the United States. The only really successful program that has lasted the test of time is Airborne Law Enforcement Services (ABLE) in California. ABLE is a shared helicopter program between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach operating three Eurocopter EC-120s. These agencies in the beginning set everything up right with all kinds of written agreements and built in replacement costs for each helicopter. These types of agreements are very hard for many agencies to reach because of politics and local government rules. The idea has been tried on numerous occasions in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and each time any attempted program has crashed and burned before the ideas even made it to contracts. There is also the issue of how the helicopters can be operated under FAA and public use rules. If a private company attempts to set up a program and contract out their services and operate for compensation or hire and carry passengers (i.e.: police officer observers) then they have to operate under Part 135 air taxi rules. The same rules helicopter EMS companies have to operate under while carrying a patient. Also, public use rules prevents police agencies from charging services for use of their aircraft to other agencies, especially if they are operating any surplus military aircraft which don't carry airworthiness certificates.
When Dallas PD first started operating helicopters 41 years ago, letters were sent out to surrounding agencies soliciting their interest in contributing funds to make the unit regional. There was no response to any of these letters. A similar request was made about 10 years ago, again, no responses. Every body thinks it’s a great idea until they have to start coughing up the cash! The simple fact is small agencies, and even some very large agencies all want helicopter support, but simply can't afford it. There have been numerous individuals and helicopter companies over the years attempt to start regional airborne LE support units in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and like I said none have even gotten close to getting off the ground. You would think an area with a combined population of over 6.5-million people (Fort Worth with 700K, Dallas with 1.2 million, and Arlington with 359K) and over 30 to 40 smaller suburbs could all get together and agree to set up one hell of a airborne LE program that could support everyone. You would think the same idea would work great in the greater metro Denver area also. But I hate to say it will never happen. There are too many obstacles in the way. Individual governmental fiefdoms may be the main obstacle, but there are simply too many municipal, state and federal rules standing in the way. Numerous programs have been tried in other areas in the country, but usually fail because of the squabbling that starts over who gets preference for the helicopter when it’s airborne. If it ends up spending too much time in one city when another city is in need of the helicopter the squabbling gets ugly!
It's a shame that Denver has had to park its helicopter except for special events. They really had to fight hard back in the early 90s to purchase a new helicopter to replace the Bell 47s they had back in the 70s and 80s. But it beats the alternative, which is loosing the helicopter completely, which is what happened to Tulsa PD recently.
Mark