Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

To clarify (although I thought my original ravings were perfectly clear in the exact same way as mud is :p)

I would rather minor crime involving property only happened due there not being a police helicopter than to die because there wasn't a Helimed unit.

Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

I think they do do double duty here, and thank god for the people that are up in all weathers flying them and saving lives - I think everyone would agree they are worth every penny for saving lives alone.

Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

Ok tiger, i here waht you are saying, then they should ban programmes like Sky cops, because in my eyes all it shows them doing IS chasing down low rate criminals(who get off with a suspended scentance then re-offend 3 weeks later), or following car chases. A far better use for the chopper is to follow said car thief wait until he stops and not chase them on the ground, therefore reducing the 'Chase' aspect from it, making it much safer for the people on the ground. In these kind of programmes, they just make it look pointless and frankly a waste of money.

Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

What, police Choppers? I find it hard to see how they would/could/do save more lives than an air ambulance which is Chairty funded, thats the part that im dgging at, the fact the government thinks one is paid for by us (taxation), and the other...paid for by us (chairty donations/sponsorship, a la Virgin etc.

Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

I personally think alot more people get caught because of helicopters and there heat source cameras, which can only be a good thing.

Car thieves, burgulars, anybody running from the police can be traced and more often than not caught by a police chopper.......ALOT more people would get away if it was not for the poice helicopters.

I think they are good.

Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

I speak for everybody when I say +1, but it isn't an either or. When our dear Chancellor doles out the money he isn't giving the helicopter money to the cops instead of the NHS. Some police forces and NHS trusts choose to spend their cash on helicopters and some don't, that's where the choice is made.

Plenty of forces agree, but Sky Cops or UK Street Crime etc don't show footage of what you've just described because it'd be duller than Time Team. Confirming that a missing person isn't in a large area of open ground would make even less enthralling TV, but using a helicopter for that saves huge amounts of time and resources. These shows do us all a favour by educating the crims that it's waste of time to run away from a helicopter, which is one reason most pursuits now last about 2 minutes where before they lasted for ages.

Amen to that, and charities are big business. The NHS doesn't use it's money for helicopters because they are already provided by someone else and if they did it would just divert money from elsewhere, maybe the A&E department where you get dropped off. The way it is now I still have no clue whether everybody wins or everybody loses :confused:

Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

Don't thank Her, got nothing to do with it. Thank Eurocopter Deutschland or Pratt & Whitney or somebody useful. ;)

And Police helicopters do save lives by transporting injured people to hospital, especially in more rural areas (or countries!) or in summer when the ambulances are swamped. An air ambulance just does it 10 times better for the same money...

Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

I know for a fact that statement is not true. The Wiltshire Air Ambulance crossed the border into Dorset to pick me up after my big crash, the NHS do not pay towards the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and only there charity does. No government funding is offered to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and the Police side of things is covered by the Police Air Support service and has a limited budget. The Wiltshire Air Ambulance charity, contributions made by residents of Wiltshire and those of us from outside Wiltshire that have been unfortunate to be passengers, pays for all Ambulance work. This cost averages to be one third of the yearly cost.

Whilst I do not live in Wiltshire anymore I donate to the charity, not only is it a life saver to the civilian world but it can also reach all areas of Salisbury Plain in minutes aiding any military exercise casualties.

http://www.wiltshireairambulance.co.uk/aboutus.htm

The fact remains the Police side of this helicopter is fully supported by the government, were as the Ambulance side has only the charitable contributions and the volunteers (including the paramedics) to keep it going.

Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

Well you've got your ducks in a row there mate and I am happy to stand corrected. Either I wasn't paying attention when I was a pilot for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance or things have changed, probably the former! The aircraft and crewing are identical to Sussex and I assumed (the mother of all f*ck up) that the finance was the same too. Wrong. Sorry.

Anyway, picked up a few mangled Dorset bikers back in the day, when was your big one?

Re: Sky Cops (Rant!!)
 

I believe the London one is paid for by sponsorship,but the NHS pays for the medical staff on it.Dont know if that includes the pilot.It also has a parking lot on top of the London Hospital and I assume that was built and paid for by the NHS.There is also back up road transport (for when it cant fly)and control services which are NHS supplied.