Police helicopter review endorses increased flying time, 2nd chopper

Anexternal review of Winnipeg's police helicopter says it is a valuable resource that needs to keep flying.

In fact, the city should have two of them, the report fromMeyers Norris Penny says.

"Purchasing a secondhelicopterwouldallow the [Flight Operations Unit] tosignificantlyreducetheannualnumberofdaysthatitwasnotoperational duetomaintenance," the Report of Findings and Conclusionsstates.

"The FOU should increase its capability and capacity to spend more time in the air on an annual basis."

MNP was contracted in July 2018 and the Winnipeg Police Service released the findings and final report on Friday.

The helicopter, known as Air1, first took to the skies in 2011. The MNP study examined its service between that year and 2017.

In that time, it flew an average of 933 hours annually and was grounded for 884.5 of 2,526 calendar days due to maintenance, poor weather andstaffing reasons, according to the report.

"Assuming the number ofmaintenancedays couldbereducedtozero,itwould allow an averageincrease of65 additionalavailableflyingdaysperyear" or260flight hours.

Edmonton police have twohelicopters and fly anaverage of 1,600 hoursperyear, while Calgary policefly their two choppers an averageof2,800hoursperyear, the report states.

MNP could not complete a full cost-benefit analysis as part of the review because the data is not available to quantify the benefits, the report stated.

"Having said that, a community's perception and WPS members' belief that the helicopter helps keep them safe, is important."

The study found Air1 can respond to incidents faster than ground units, enabling safer tracking of suspects. It also found a greater number of arrests are made when an aircraft is involved.

"Anecdotally, the use of the helicopter helps to find missing persons [and] its unique capabilities and proven ability to support operational and investigative service unitsmakes it a good use of WPS resources," the report states.

Staff in the WPScommunications centre said they coulddispatch the helicopter in significantly more situations if it was available.

A public survey 600 people reached by phone and another 1,811 submitted online responses was also conducted as part of the review.

• 56per cent of online respondents agreed Air1helped with neighbourhood policing.
• 56per cent agreed Air1 improved their sense of security and safety.
• 65per cent of telephone survey respondents agreed Air1 helped with neighborhood policing.
• 73per cent of telephone survey respondents agreed Air1 improved their sense of security and safety.
• Overall, 66per cent of online survey respondents and 81per cent of the telephone survey respondents expressed support for the use of the helicopter.

As for 484 WPS officers who were surveyed,88per cent of those surveyed believe it increases theirsafety.

But in some parts of the city, not everyone feels the helicopter increases their sense of safety and security.

"I live in, and I work in downtown and people feel surveyed by the helicopter, it feels intrusive, it's noisy, and we know that it has an effect on racialized communities," saidMolly McCracken from the Canada Centre for Policy Alternatives.

"People feel a bit wary of the helicopter when it comes around, and a bit resentful that they know it's a very expensive piece of equipment, but community centres are falling apart, and can't stay open late nights and weekends, and yet we're flying this fancy piece of machinery."

The CCPA releases an annual analysis of the city's budget, and McCracken says spending on police services continues to increase, despite the drop in property and violent crimes.

"[The]most recent budget finds that the police spending is ballooning, it is now a third of all city spending where it used to be about a fifth of all city spending in 2001," said McCracken, who says she'd rather see money funnelled into community services as a way of preventing crime.

The review also examined the impact of noise created by Air1 andthe value it provides for its expense. Operating costs between 2011 and 2017 have ranged from $1.33 million to $1.93 million per year.

Thirty-one per cent of online respondentssaidthey were disturbed by the noise, another 21 per cent said the spotlight disturbed them.

The number was much lower for telephone respondents, sixper cent of which said they were disturbed by noiseand 13per cent of which said they were disturbed by the spotlight.

In the past five years, there have been fiveor fewer complaints made each year to the WPS about Air1, the review found.

As for value, 63per cent of online survey respondents and 76per cent of of those surveyed by phone say the costs of the helicopterare justified by the benefits it provides.

Eighty-two per cent of WPS members agreed Air1is an efficient use of WPS resources.

'A lot of work to do'

Deputy chief Gord Perrier said he was pleased with the report and its recommendations butstopped short of saying it justifiesthe Flight Operations Unit. Instead, he labelled it as "information" to guide future discussions.

"We have a lot of work to do to make decisions about that program, where that program's going," he said.

"They made some very good recommendations and some guides for us to say, 'We think these are some areas where you can make some enhancements.' So we're going to look at that and we're going to change some of our practices.

"Two helicopters? I don't know. Of course, anything's possible."