Small Sheriff's Departments Using Helicopters

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 18:17:36 GMT, "Eric Scheie"
wrote:


"One side of the COIN" wrote in message
...
Davdirect wrote:

Then why require the law enforcement training? Wouldn't it be wiser to
have an
experienced pilot than to have an experienced cop who has minimal hours?

Yes that would be a good presumption.

However the politics of the situation come into play.

If you were a police officer in any city, what would your attitude be
if you knew that you could never be the chief of police, a dog handler,
a supervisor, a trainer, the head of the union, a dispatcher, or
even a helicopter pilot, in your own police department.


Hiring experienced pilots off the street should not necessarily preclude
anyone from within the department from becoming pilots themselves and moving
into the aviation unit. Of those jobs listed (dog handler, dispatcher, etc),
how many require the level of training of a pilot? It's a bit of an apples
and oranges comparison.

On the issue of the responsibility of carrying a gun vs flying an aircraft:
I agree, both come with a lot of responsibility. However, the tone of some
of the posts here indicate that some consider it more important for a police
pilot to have experience carrying a gun than actually flying an aircraft. A
very myopic and dangerous view. I would ask the question, how many times do
the pilots in any given police air unit find themselves in need of their
weapon? For instance, I often see road signs stating "Speed Limit Enforced
By Aircraft", however, I have yet to see any police aircraft pull someone
over, land, shut down, police officer pilot get out, and write a ticket. I
can see possible scenarios where a pilot might land and let the observer get
out and make/assist with an arrest.

Landing defeats the entire purpose of the air crew. carrying a gun is
not the issue. Understanding police tactics & proceedure is the issue.

Flying with two pilots (vice a pilot and an observer) would allow for a less
experienced pilot to learn from those with more experience, and they may
find themselves in a situation where one might need a gun. However, for
those flying single pilot with an observer, a more experienced pilot is
going to make for a safer operation. Put yourself in an observer's shoes,
would you rather fly with pilot with maybe 250-300 hours who just got their
commerical rating, or a pilot with 2000 hours? Ask the taxpayers who they
want flying their aircraft.


How many hours do you think our military pilots have when we turn them
loose in an F-18? A few hundred. It all comes down to the quality of
the training.

"One side of the COIN" Later went on to say:

If you were a police department what would you rather have.......

An experienced police officer who knew the lay of the land, had worked
the streets, understood exactly what was going on, and had been
trained to fly a helicopter as a police officer pilot.

OR...... An experienced helicopter pilot who had never made an arrest,
worked the streets, or knew what the boys and girls actually went
through down there on the ground...... but was now a sworn in police
officer with a gun at his hip.

What experience is more important to the police department.


As has been stated in this thread, politics, more than anything, drives the
decision about who becomes a police pilot. Unfortunately, politics and
policies are often controlled by people with little to no knowledge of
aviation.

How true.

One law enforcement agency that hires people to be pilots is the US Customs
Service. Yes, you attend their academy (16 weeks, I think), become a sworn
officer, and carry a gun. Then you go straight to an aviation unit. There is
nothing that states that a Customs officer could not become a pilot, if they
meet the flight time minimums.

Do you know anyone in Customs? I do. Lots of problems because people
are thrust into a law enforcement job with no law enforcement
background.

I think it could be argued effectively that an experienced pilot, especially
one with a military background (no slight intended toward civilian pilots),
could learn a patrolman's job faster than a patrolman could become a
pilot's. Some in this thread may disagree, but I'll stand by my statement.

The only way you learn it is spending time on the streets.