Shared Helicopter Services to Continue

An agreement with the city of Costa Mesa to share police helicopter services will continue, the City Council decided this week.

The decision came after the city met with the Costa Mesa City Council about renegotiating the pact after the two other parties in the agreement--the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and Huntington Beach--dropped out of the AirBorne Law Enforcement Services, known as ABLE.

Officials of the county and Huntington Beach said they were pulling out of the 3-year-old program because it was too costly. But after analyzing the costs and benefits of reorganizing the aerial operation, Newport Beach decided to keep it.

“We think it’s a good deal,” Newport Beach Sgt. John Desmond said.

The Costa Mesa council is expected to take similar action on the matter next week.

In the revamped $1.7-million program, the Newport Beach and Costa Mesa police departments will keep ABLE but on a smaller scale. To save money, the two departments plan to sell two of the four helicopters now in service and use the proceeds to buy one new copter.

With one less copter, the number of personnel will be reduced to seven from 10, Desmond said.

Newport Beach officials said they hope to offset the cost of the program by contracting out its services to other cities that do not have helicopter service. Santa Ana has already expressed interest, officials said.