I hear YA, with all the money Birmingham & Jefferson County wastes you would think they could redirect some of it to a chopper. Tuscaloosa Police had one back in the early 90's that they actually used, I guess they still do. I'm not that familiar with helicopters but I think it was one of those like we have all seen on MASH.
I heard a lot of fleeing suspects captured and that was without FLIR - just one VERY bright spotlight!
Tuscaloosa PD still uses at least one helicopter. At one point they had two. It can be seen flying around town pretty frequently both day and night. TPD is encrypted now, but I remember listening to air-ground comms during pursuits. Unfortunately all of that has come to an end now. On a side note, TCSO had a fixed-wing aircraft (Eagle 1). Pretty sure they still use it.
