Countywide : County, 2 Cities Form Copter Unit

Huntington Beach has joined with Costa Mesa and Orange County to form the area’s first regional police helicopter unit.

Officials said the newly formed Airborne Law Enforcement Services will permit the agencies to cut expenses while pooling helicopter service. It will provide more air coverage by adding shifts that are not now covered.

The three agencies will have seven helicopters. Huntington Beach, which in 1969 became the first city in Orange County to use helicopters in police work, will contribute three helicopters. Orange County and Costa Mesa will have two each.

Anaheim and Newport Beach are other cities with police helicopters, but neither has joined the regional bureau, although Newport Beach has expressed an interest, according to officials.

To raise revenue, the unit will contract services to other cities in Orange County that lack helicopters. In addition, cities without any contract with the bureau can call for service at a rate of $600 per hour, Costa Mesa Lt. Tom Warnack said.

Policy for the unit will be set by a board of governors made up of Huntington Beach Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg, Costa Mesa Chief David L. Snowden and Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates.

The formation of the unit was announced at a news conference in Huntington Beach on Monday. “The primary goal will be to support the officer in the street, where the rubber meets the road,” Lowenberg said, adding that it is an important step in the battle against crime.

The three jurisdictions have agreed to keep individual control over personnel, equipment and budgets, but they will try to consolidate maintenance operations for the three departments in Huntington Beach. That’s “where the real savings will come in,” Lowenberg said.

Huntington Beach currently has no police helicopters on patrol during the daytime on Monday and Tuesday because of staffing limitations, according to Sgt. Gary Brooks, one of seven helicopter pilots in the department.

In the agreement, copters from one of the three agencies will provide coverage over the city every day and night of the week, he said.

Officials said the new aero bureau is the most recent regionalization effort in the county. Others include the regional narcotics suppression program, the auto theft task force and the county central dispatch system.