Sheriff’s Deputies Also Take to the Air

While the Los Angeles Police Department decribes its Air Support Division as “the largest airborne municipal law enforcement system in the world,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Aero Bureau is comparable in many respects.

In fact, the Aero Bureau, which patrols a greater area, including unincorporated and incorporated districts spread over much of the county, has the same number of helicopters--15 in all.

However, the Aero Bureau has fewer than half as many officers--31 as opposed to 75--and that means the way it operates is somewhat different.

“We don’t have the daylight patrol as such; they do,” said Lt. Charles Wood, a bureau watch commander. “They have the ability to keep three helicopters in the air all the time. We don’t.”

The Aero Bureau’s regular patrol activity begins at 6 p.m. The LAPD’s helicopter patrols start at 9 a.m.

In addition, Aero Bureau pilots spend a major share of their time on search-and-resue operations in the backcountry in the eastern half of Los Angeles County; the county Fire Department handles most of that work in the western half of the county. The LAPD Air Support Division, in contrast, spends a relatively small part of its time on search-and-rescue operations.

While on regular patrol, though, the Aero Bureau helicopters work in much the same fashion as the LAPD airborne units, watching for suspicious activity while providing an aerial platform to observe and help guide the law enforcement work of their fellow officers below.

Like the LAPD Air Support Division teams, the pilots and observers on the sheriff’s helicopters are all veterans of patrol duty on the ground. Because both agencies often share responsibilities on the ground, their helicopter crews sometimes train together so they can work closely in times of emergency.

Most of the Aero Bureau helicopters are based at Long Beach Airport. But because its operations are so widely dispersed, the bureau also keeps one helicopter based in Malibu, one in the Santa Clarita Valley and one in the Antelope Valley.