Chopping the Cost of Law Enforcement : * Cities Consolidating Helicopter Services Would Be More Efficient and Less Expensive

In the early 1970s--the first time the idea of shared helicopter services for local law enforcement agencies was on the table--Orange County was undergoing its growth spurt, and helicopter forces were in their infancy for several departments. But what a grand jury said in 1970 has proved to have shelf-life: “All communities in the county would profit from a centralized approach to helicopter service, and all cities should have regular access to this modern approach to law enforcement.”

The passage of two decades and the squeeze on city budgets in the 1990s have made this an idea whose time well may have arrived. Officials of three law enforcement agencies, all with separate helicopter units, are studying whether to consolidate their forces to save money. They also are looking at extending coverage to cities that don’t have them. If all goes well, more people may be covered at less cost to the cities. Would that all municipal services promise such benefits.

The annual price tag for the existing sheriff’s two-helicopter unit is about $900,000. Costa Mesa’s costs $1.7 million annually, an expense deferred by a $200,000 annual contribution contract for services to Santa Ana. Huntington Beach’s three-copter unit costs about $1.3 million a year.

All that isn’t cheap and start-up costs for other cities that have thought about a helicopter force are also prohibitive. But a regional unit could allow cities to buy into the program, and defray costs. Last fall, police from the three departments joined operations in a test for three months. It appeared that the joined departments could cover an area from Seal Beach to San Clemente, and as far inland as Orange, with some cities getting free police helicopter service for the trial period.

Surely some rough spots would have to be ironed out--who would control the force, etc. But for police work where speed and approaches by air are desirable, this is a good idea.