Will Residents Notice When Air One Gets Grounded?
COLORADO SPRINGS – It’s helped in the arrest of more than 2,600 criminals in more than a decade, but as we first reported at the beginning of October, the Colorado Springs Police helicopter will be grounded on December 14th.
“We can get there first on scene, 9 out of 10 calls, easily,” says CSPD pilot Sergeant Dan Lofgren.
We saw a perfect example of that on our ride along this week, responding to four calls in less than 30 minutes.
“I go home at night and I know that there is one less very violent criminal on the street,” says CSPD pilot Officer Chris Burns.
Officer Burns usually goes to work and sees the city from 1,000 feet above the ground. Starting December 16th, he’ll be seeing the city from ground level patrolling the downtown area.
“Quick response time and then our bird’s eye view once we get there, you just can’t match those from anywhere on the ground,” says Sgt. Lofgren.
Take Palmer Park for example. From the air, pilots say they can search the entire park with its spotlight in a matter of minutes. From the ground, officers say it could take hours to search the area.
“I like it when I see it flying around, I feel that I’m a little more safer because they can see so much,” says Palmer Park visitor Holly Curtis. “I think it adds security to the city.”
Other residents complain about the noise and consider the helicopter, an unnecessary resource.
“I see so many police officers around town, it’s like overkill,” says Palmer Park visitor Laura Allen.
Sgt. Lofgren believes when a criminal sees the helicopter, they pretty much know there’s no escape.
“The deterrent factor, unfortunately it’s hard to measure, but it definitely exists,” says Sgt. Lofgren. “People realize that any aggressive action taken towards that officer, they’re not going to get away from the helicopter.”
Officers on the ground also personally benefit from the flights.
“We’ll give them one or two orbits just to let the driver know that we’re up there and to let the officer know that we’re checking on them,” says Sgt. Lofgren. “The helicopter has proven over and over again, the way it’s equipped now, that it saves lives and that it saves officer’s lives.”
To be able to fly next year, police need $796,000. Instead, it will save $473,000 by cutting the program. The mechanic position is being eliminated, the maintenance and operating costs are saved and worker’s compensation is reduced.
From January 1996 to August 2007, Air One responded to 26,894 calls. It was in the air for 11,674 hours, the equivalent of 486 days.
Each year, Air One helps find about 350 suspects and 25 missing persons. It even helped search for Jereme Lamberth, the man accused of shooting and killing Officer Jared Jensen in February 2006.
“Yeah, it was a very large area that they were trying to contain,” says Sgt. Lofgren. “We utilized a lot of ground officers, but it still doesn’t replace the view that you get from the air.”
The two helicopters will be sold in the next two weeks for about $250,000 total. The helicopters only have about two more years of life in them, a big reason the program is getting cut. If the city wants to bring the air support program back, the pilots have researched a new aircraft and technology that would cost $3.5 million.
