Exclusive Ride Along Before CSPD Air One Grounded
COLORADO SPRINGS – At 1,000 feet above the ground, Air One, the Colorado Springs Air Support, patrols from the sky. Air One will potentially be grounded next Friday, if the City Council approves its budget on Tuesday, which includes dropping CSPD’s Air Support unit.
NEWSCHANNEL 13 got an exclusive look at the view from above on a ride along with Air One. The city doesn’t have enough money for it to fly next year.
“We can contain a whole complex that would take at least four officers and we can contain it quickly before those officers even get on scene,” says CSPD Pilot Sergeant Dan Lofgren.
During our ride along, Air One was called out to four different locations in just half an hour. The most serious call was the last one, a wanted man barricaded inside a motel in the 3400 block of West Pikes Peak south of Garden of the Gods.
“The suspect is not likely to run from the hotel cause he knows the helicopter’s up here,” says Sgt. Lofgren.
Air One was able to secure the scene from the sky, shining a spotlight on the area, while ground crews blocked off the streets. Swat and K-9 units were brought in, while we circled above for 30 minutes. Police were able to make the arrest.
“We can come over something like this, stay high and make sure that the guy doesn’t leave until patrol gets here and if he does we’d stay on him,” says Sgt. Lofgren. “Since we loaded up and left the hangar, it’s been call-to-call, non-stop.”
Before that call, we were at three different downtown locations within 10 minutes. The first was a domestic violence call at the Cheyenne Motel near south Nevada and Southgate. It took police on the ground just three minutes to get to the scene, less than the CSPD average of 10-minutes and 37-seconds. In the air, we were five miles away.
“We responded all the way over from Pikes Peak and Academy,” says Sgt. Lofgren. “It took us about 35 seconds.”
When we were cleared from that scene, we flew over 8th Street and Cimarron for a suspected DUI driver. As we were looking for anything unusual, there was a report of shots fired at the downtown McDonald’s on north Wahsatch.
“We just want to make sure that everything looks good at the McDonald’s,” says Sgt. Lofgren as we circle over the restaurant.
This trip took just seconds, but the call turned out to be nothing. The caller was apparently reporting an incident from 15-20 minutes earlier, and there may not have been any guns fired.
Pilots, Sgt. Lofgren and Officer Chris Burns, tell NEWSCHANNEL 13 what we saw was a typical night in the sky. After next Friday, the Air Support unit will be eliminated.
“Even the Chief (Myers) would prefer to keep it and I think he’s said that too, we’re not saying this is a good idea,” says CSPD Lieutenant Skip Arms. “It’s a force multiplier and a department that is strapped for resources, so anytime that you can have something enhance your limited resources, you know that’s a benefit to the community and the officers.”
The city plans to sell the two CSPD helicopters, fire the mechanic and reassign Sgt. Lofgren, Officer Burns and two other officers to other areas within the department.
“Because we’re losing it now, I don’t think the department wants to forever close that door,” says Lt. Arms.
