Police Agencies Team Up for Helicopter Patrol

Nowhere to run. No place to hide.

That’s the message to criminals with the debut Friday of a new San Gabriel Valley police helicopter patrol serving the cities of Arcadia, Azusa, Covina, Monrovia, Pasadena and West Covina.

The chopper is part of the newly formed Foothill Air Support Team, the first regional police helicopter program in Los Angeles County. By pooling their resources, officials say, these San Gabriel Valley cities can afford police helicopter protection that includes infrared tracking technology.

“This will allow us to bring something to our officers that agencies our size usually cannot do,” said Monrovia Chief Joseph Santoro. “It will allow us to protect our citizens better.”

During its six-week trial run last summer, the police OH58 helicopter responded to 190 calls and beat a squad car to the scene more than 50% of the time. “It takes only four minutes for this helicopter to go from Pasadena to West Covina,” he said.

“This is an enormous step forward for law enforcement and public safety in the San Gabriel Valley,” said Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian. “Criminals don’t see city boundaries.” Separate from the regional patrol, Pasadena operates its own fleet of police helicopters.

The new helicopter is a military version of the popular Jet Ranger and will be in service from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Melekian said it will be available to fly during emergencies at other times.

A Pasadena officer will pilot the chopper, while observers will be drawn from the other departments. The observer can use an infrared automatic tracking technology to locate a fugitive through thermal imaging. A similar system guided so-called smart bombs in the Gulf War. A fugitive’s image is relayed via a camera mounted beneath the helicopter to a monitor in the cockpit.

Officials say the multi-city patrol will cost $181,000 a year to operate.

The service will be worth it, officials said. “A helicopter can do some things a squad car cannot,” Santoro said. “It’s a platform in the sky that can identify escape routes, spot ambushes, and pursue vehicles without risk to the chasing officers.”

Together, the cities persuaded the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning to pay $160,000 for the helicopter’s thermal imaging system and received a $34,000 federal grant for a computer mapping system.

Azusa Councilman Dick Stanford said all modern police departments need helicopters. “As a former military aviator for the Marine Corps,” Stanford said, “I know that if you’re not fighting the enemy in three dimensions, you are not doing it.”