Members Mull Pullout From Regional Police Helicopter Unit

A regional police helicopter unit formed three years ago in an effort to reduce costs and improve service has hit some significant turbulence, with two of its four member agencies likely to pull out this week.

The Huntington Beach City Council will vote Monday on a proposal by the Police Department to withdraw from the Airborne Law Enforcement Services (ABLE) program, saying the expected cost savings of a regional operation never materialized.

On Tuesday, Sheriff Brad Gates will ask the county Board of Supervisors to pull out of program and again operate its helicopters independently.

“It was an attempt at regionalization, but it didn’t work,” said Huntington Beach Councilman Ralph H. Bauer. “We went into this with the idea of pooling our resources and actually saving money. But that hasn’t happened, so we don’t see a reason to continue.”

Law enforcement officials declined to discuss the situation Friday, saying they plan a news conference later this week to talk about the future of the ABLE program. The withdrawals would leave only Newport Beach and Costa Mesa in the chopper program, though officials from all four jurisdictions vowed to continue some sort of informal partnership.

The breakup is a cautionary tale at a time when local governments are moving to share police and other municipal services in an attempt to boost efficiency.

Seal Beach, Cypress and Los Alamitos this spring combined their police communications system at a savings of $80,000 annually, while seven city fire departments recently announced plans to share dispatch operations.

“Taxpayers benefit by efficient uses of public resources,” said William Mitchell, an Irvine attorney and co-chair of a county committee examining government operations. “If public agencies can cooperate and use expensive safety equipment like helicopters in a cost-effective manner, the public benefits.”

Mitchell’s sentiments are not new. In 1970, the Orange County Grand Jury urged a “centralized approach to helicopter service” that would provide all cities with “regular access to this modern approach to law enforcement.”

Two decades later, four of the five area police agencies with helicopters decided to form ABLE. The fifth, Anaheim, opted not to join.

ABLE hoped to reduce costs by providing contract patrol service to cities that don’t have their own choppers. While many communities expressed interest in the service, most faced tight budgets and simply couldn’t afford to join. Presently, only Santa Ana holds a patrol contract.

ABLE did achieve some savings by sharing maintenance, fuel and operational costs, said Costa Mesa City Manager Allan L. Roeder. But the concept of a countywide helicopter unit never materialized.

“It shows that bigger isn’t necessarily better,” Roeder said. “I don’t think there is one standard. Combining services is not always going to achieve economies of scale.”

The Sheriff’s Department expressed another concern.

Earlier this year, “the cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa . . . proposed expanding the powers of ABLE so that it would own the helicopters and directly employ the police officers and deputy sheriffs serving as pilots. The Sheriff-Coroner believes this would not be in the best interest of the county,” a report to the Board of Supervisors said.

Beyond financial and governing issues, Huntington Beach officials said the decision to withdraw is also based on the belief that an independent chopper operation will provide better service to the city. Under the regional approach, emergency response is sometimes slowed because choppers must travel into the city from patrols in other communities.

“You need an immediate response,” said City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga.

The City Council and Board of Supervisors are expected to approve the withdrawal requests. But Roeder and others said they expect the agencies to continue looking for efficiencies and sharing some operational duties.

“I see this more as a restructuring than a breakup,” Roeder added. “I see continued participation in a different fashion.”