Westcherster County PD Aviation: Responding to local PD calls ?

[Dr. Zuki 1]

Is County PD Aviation now continually monitoring local police calls for possible assistance ???

Will they respond without being called first by the local cops?

Curious about this after hearing Aviation aiding in a Yonkers perp search last Friday night near 11PM in the area of the closed Mulford Gardens projects. Aviation had apparently spotted three possible suspects from an earlier mugging in nearby Grant Park. They were using some hight tech night vision gizmo. How high up and how close to the street level can they see with this technology?

Weeks back there was a simliar search conducted late one afternoon in the vicinity of Bennigans on Executive Blvd, but I caught the tail end of it and don't know the nature of the call.

Regardless, it's great knowing County PD Aviation is taking the initiative and responding on it's own to local police calls.

Thanks and we welcome your ongoing presence !!

Dr. Zuki

Lawrence Hospital

P.S.--As part of the ride along program, can a helicopter ride be arranged ????

[Dr. Zuki 1]

P.S.--Does the helicopter have the Lojack monitoring device?

LAPD does.

Thanks

[61MACKBR1 222]

Great Question From Dr. Zuki - Does anyone within the County PD System or within Yonkers PD know the answers?

[Oswegowind 17]

If aviation is working, then they are working...flying over the County on routine patrol, doing their inspections, and providing an eye in the sky to local police everywhere. They are particularly useful in Yonkers especially during foot pursuits and reported suspicious activity being able to get there quickly and put a light on the situation, literally! Aviation has long been neglected in this area, used for major jobs only. Now they are here to help on a regular basis and if not assigned can be recalled pretty quickly if needed. Especially in Yonkers, with the number of buildings around the southwest end where a majority of the crime occurs, they are able to clear roof tops, check alleyways, and provide definite back up to officers involved in police operations. They do monitor all local pd's, fd's and are always ready to assist, no matter the need. Unfortunately there are too many nosy people out there though and when we do use them, everyone calls 911 cause the chopper is flying low over their house! People suck...what can I tell ya.

Chris192 can get into the specific equipment that the bird is "armed" with. I haven't heard the lojack thing as of yet.

Edited September 5, 2007 by Oswegowind

[helicopper 1,050]

Is County PD Aviation now continually monitoring local police calls for possible assistance ???

Will they respond without being called first by the local cops?

Curious about this after hearing Aviation aiding in a Yonkers perp search last Friday night near 11PM in the area of the closed Mulford Gardens projects. Aviation had apparently spotted three possible suspects from an earlier mugging in nearby Grant Park. They were using some hight tech night vision gizmo. How high up and how close to the street level can they see with this technology?

Weeks back there was a simliar search conducted late one afternoon in the vicinity of Bennigans on Executive Blvd, but I caught the tail end of it and don't know the nature of the call.

Regardless, it's great knowing County PD Aviation is taking the initiative and responding on it's own to local police calls.

Thanks and we welcome your ongoing presence !!

Dr. Zuki

Lawrence Hospital

P.S.--As part of the ride along program, can a helicopter ride be arranged ????

It's really no different than if we were patrolling in a car and heard a call nearby - we'll respond and render assistance where possible. We've been called by some jobs to do deterrence patrols where patterns have been identified and others to simply provide "high visibility". As Oswego said, aviation on this side of the country is often under-utilized and alot of guys think we can only be called for the "big one" which is not the case - we'll respond to any job that requests us. Both helicopters have the capability to talk to every PD in the County directly - a major interoperability improvement - so if we're flying over Yonkers odds are we'll be monitoring their frequency.

Perhaps we'll have a raffle for a helicopter ride-along - but you won't be able to use EMTBravo points for your ticket!!!

As far as equipment goes - both aircraft are equipped with nightsuns and thermal imaging cameras (new helicopter also has a color camera for day video). The old helicopter also has LOJACK but the new helicopter does not - the explosion of ONSTAR and GPS based systems in many cars has reduced the popularity of LOJACK so the new helicopter has some other bells and whistles.

The new helicopter also has a hoist for rescues or extractions, a cargo hook for bambi-bucket operations or other external load missions, and microwave downlink to broadcast video to command posts or other appropriate locations on the ground.

And I think OSWEGO may have to change his avatar to "publicist for the County PD Aviation Unit" in the future!

[Oswegowind 17]

What can I say, I think it is great, now if I can just figure out how to get detailed to you guys as the Yonkers PD Aviation Assistance Communications guru...Like that could ever happen! My job doesn't even know I work there!

[Dr. Zuki 1]

Chris,

Thanks for the detailed reply and for always assisting Yonkers PD.

Always feels good to be walking around at night and seeing County aviation up there with that flashing green light. Will look up and wave to you next time....look down at the Roosevelt HS track for the only brunette guy in town wearing a purple members only jacket...LOL.

Dr. Zuki

Lawrence Hospital

[Oswegowind 17]

Chris,

Thanks for the detailed reply and for always assisting Yonkers PD.

Always feels good to be walking around at night and seeing County aviation up there with that flashing green light. Will look up and wave to you next time....look down at the Roosevelt HS track for the only brunette guy in town wearing a purple members only jacket...LOL.

Dr. Zuki

Lawrence Hospital

He said "Members Only" jacket, and it is Purple. Doc, look out, the fashion police are investigating you!

[Guest seanc]

i hope they don't put the old helicopter out of service anytime soon, i just got LOJACK installed in my car. (i won it for free at the rye playland fleet demo day last year)