DeKalb Grounds Police Helicopter Patrols
Decatur Metro | February 26, 2011As part of $33.6 million in budget cuts demanded by the DeKalb County Commission, DeKalb Police have decided to ground its police helicopter. From the AJC…
DeKalb Chief William O’Brien grounded the helicopter to meet a $4.7 million budget cut, according to a memo obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Effective immediately, helicopter response to calls for service is very limited. Aerial Support is suspending all helicopter activities, operations and call-outs,” Assistant Chief Lisa A. Gassner wrote to staff on Thursday.
The helicopter will only be used for critical public safety emergencies, such as floods and officer-involved shootings, police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said.
Sounds like DeKalb police chases may have just gotten a bit more challenging.
An understandable political and budgetary decision that could be very very bad.
Surely operating a helicopter in such a demanding role demands a high level of frequent, repetive flying that can only be gained by getting hours in. When we need the equipment and skills in an emergency, their effectiveness (and safety) will be compromised.
My understanding is that the helicopter is mostly used for joy riding DeKalb officials around. Much like the state’s helicopter.
TO AMB: Incorrect. Get your facts straight before you post.
It’s a flying flashlight that costs a lot of money for upkeep. Helicopters, SWAT gear, armored cars-it’s all part of the militarization of local police departments. All that high tech gear may satisfy your Rambo urges but it does nothing to keep the citizens of DeKalb safe.
Should this impact our selection of “non basic police service” under r-10-20 ? I mean without the cool helicopters what are we really getting that our Decatur PD and GBI can’t provide? (Just curious and with a high opinion of our locals.)
This is good news. Next, I’d like to hear that MARTA is grounding its entire fleet of cars and officers will be riding the trains. Then I’d like to hear that all the TV stations are grounding their choppers because of fuel costs.
I understand this blog is focused on Decatur and not DeKalb County, and it’s also not heavy on politics, but it’s still disappointing to see restaurant posts get oodles of comments while this one gets so little attention.
They’ve also canceled the June police academy as a result of the budget cuts:
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/dekalb-cancels-june-police-852842.html
I think this is caused by a number of factors. As you said, I don’t focus a lot (or enough) on DeKalb County. Also, a lot of us don’t comment if we’re not all that well-versed on a subject. Everyone can have an opinion about a new restaurant, but with something like this, you gotta have some background info in order to weigh-in. (Someone made a similar comment about a tax post recently. The same goes with HOST, which involves over $10 million on the line for Decatur)
Bottom-line: # of comments alone can’t measure interest in a topic. It’s also dependent on the accessibility of the topic.
TO AMB: Then I suggest you move. You have no idea. Better yet, why don’t YOU join the police force and see what it’s really like. I believe your opinion would change in .002 seconds.
Po-po: can you provide us with a bit of context? How will losing the helicopter affect DeKalb PD day-to-day? The AJC didn’t really elaborate.
DM, I would be happy to. The helicopter, in any department, not just DeKalb is a valuable tool in being the other “eyes” of the officer on the street in any critical situation. There are things that the helicopter can see in a wide area setting that the officer cannot from the ground. Additionally, most of these units are equipped with FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red) which will assist finding people at night, whether they be lost, wanted, running from the police, etc. The helicopter also looks at roofs of buildings when there are alarms, again as the eyes that the officer on the ground cannot see. There have been hundreds of thugs caputured over the years by these units that would not have been caught otherwise. Additionally in DeKalb’s case, this helicopter is medivac equipped to handle serious patients that needs to be flown to a hospital where ground transportation would take too long (yes even in the Atlanta area). The helicopter also can assist in rerouting traffic in jams or quickly finding where the problem is so ground units can handle it.
Yes, it’s expensive to maintain and upkeep, however, in the realm of OFFICER SAFETY, there is no more valuable tool. DeKalb will have a hard time staying ahead of the criminals without this.
There are literally hundreds of other uses that this unit provides, but these are the main ones.
Hopefully that answers your question.
With the downtown courthouse loaded Mon-Fri with currently incarcerated folks attending hearings & a big ol’ jail just down the road, we should ALL be hollering to keep the helicopters!
Just saw that San Jose, CA police are also grounding their chopper- but maybe not forever. 3 months from shut down, they’ll evaluate the cost savings vs cost to public safety, and then make the decision for the rest of the budget year. If it has to shut down, I like this evaluative approach.
Oh look. The helicopter has been grounded for a long time “due to safety concerns”. It appears the drastic police cuts announced were just a wee bit premature and mostly political posturing.
So with no helicopters, why hasn’t DeKalb descended into chaos?
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/dekalb-commission-tells-police-857373.html