Burning Blades

 

Tonight, like every night, the purpose of the ASD is to support the cops on the ground who patrol 7,000 miles of city streets and serve 4 million people. Officer safety is job number one. LAPD calls it Air Support to Regular Operations (ASTRO). A normal ASTRO flight consists of a pilot in command and a tactical-flight-officer liaison to the ground units assigned to a particular geographic area. Usually there are three birds up in the air over Los Angeles; one covers the Valley, the other flies over the central part of the city, and the last one handles the south end. On this Friday night, two birds are watching all of Los Angeles. They are like Raider greats Mike Haynes and Lester Hayes, a pair of cornerbacks, each covering one end of the city. Our helicopter, Air 18, draws the central area and the south end, south of the 10 freeway, which is “typically busier.” Air 16 has the Valley.

Flying 500 feet above Sunset at about 60 knots, normal patrolling speed, we try out the toys on the $2 million Aerostar helicopter. Harrell aims the 40-million-candle-powered “Nightsun” spotlight at the L.A. Weekly building, turning the black-and-white sign as bright as day. Then, we point the Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) scanning system at pedestrians. The FLIR registers the heat from humans as white silhouettes on the screen. The Global Positioning System (GPS)–based Moving Map is a free-floating Thomas Brothers Guide — punch in any address and the computer shows you the helicopter’s position, the destination and the most direct route. Then, there is the “LO/JACK” vehicle-locator system that detects and locates stolen cars. The ASD on the average recovers about 1,000 vehicles yearly.

Even with all this futuristic surveillance technology, conversation in the cabin often revolves around the LAPD’s lack of resources. “Look at this,” says Stevenson, pointing to the never-ending urban sprawl of Los Angeles, “470 square miles and we have fewer than 300 patrol officers on duty!”

Officers on duty might be a priority, but right now we have to be careful not to linger over the Hollywood area, because even though all air crews are reminded to “fly neighborly,” some residents are not happy with the staccato sound of the ASD’s whirling blades over their homes. While these modern police helicopters are quieter than the noisy Bell UH-1H “Huey” Vietnam-era military helicopters, many homeowners complain. The Westside — West L.A., Westwood, and specifically the Hollywood Hills — has the highest rate of noise complaints. Because of the terrain, the helicopters fly close to the same level as the houses in the Hollywood Hills. The ASD self-imposes noise-abatement procedures like flying at a higher altitude (up to 2,000 feet) or a re-route, where the helicopters go around the backside of Griffith Park.

“It’s a balancing act. You want to be sensitive to the noise signature and quality-of-life issues, but we have to weigh that with public-safety issues,” says Sergeant De Molina.

In the late ’60s to early ’70s, Los Angeles participated in an extensive study on helicopter use in public safety, conducted by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The study showed that the presence of police aircraft overhead reduced crime in urban environments and that having officers involved in air support significantly increased the probability of making an arrest.

It also pointed out a deterrent effect of police helicopters: “Once the community becomes aware that a helicopter program exists, there is a tendency to associate every helicopter they see with the police. Thus, even civilian and military helicopters passing over the city become a crime-prevention tool.” According to the study, 89 percent of residents and 93 percent of businesses polled were in favor of helicopter patrols.

The reason most gave for their support was that they felt more secure and believed crime was reduced by the presence of air units.

We make our way south. Stevenson points out four local news helicopters and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s helicopter in the far distance, all engaged in one of those famous Los Angeles car chases. Stevenson is experienced in such pursuits. The ASD averages 1,500 vehicle pursuits a year. In fact, on February 23, Stevenson was flying above the now-infamous 90-minute police pursuit that ended in Santa Monica when three LAPD officers fired on a white car as it backed slowly toward them, killing the 23-year-old suspect live on TV.

“Sheriff’s Air Unit is a joke,” says Stevenson. He meant it with no disrespect, but with 17,000 flight-hours per year, the ASD flies more hours than any other law-enforcement agency in the U.S. Some Southern California cities, including Pasadena, Glendale, El Monte, Lakewood and Long Beach, operate their own law-enforcement aircraft. For those that don’t, like Santa Monica, Huntington Park, Duarte or any other city in the county, the ASD also covers them when called. “We are the primary airborne unit in the country!” claims Stevenson. He’s right. In fact, you have to go to strife-torn Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the British army does surveillance, to find more helicopter patrols.