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County set to lose its police helicopter
South Yorkshire Police helicopter
SOUTH Yorkshire is to lose its own dedicated police helicopter, it has been announced.
The county will be served by helicopters based in West Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Humberside instead – all operated by a new National Police Air Service rather than individual forces.
The move has been made to save money.
While the force was waiting to hear if it would retain its helicopter, South Yorkshire’s Chief Constable Med Hughes spoke of his concerns that it could be scrapped and said he wanted the county to continue to have an ‘effective air support unit’.
He said the chopper ‘provided a really good life-saving service for the people of South Yorkshire’.
Under the new plans it is estimated it will take 20 minutes for a helicopter to be scrambled from surrounding bases to deal with incidents in South Yorkshire.
The force will lose its helicopter in January 2013. It is regularly used for monitoring large crowds, pursuing stolen vehicles and looking for offenders.
A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: “South Yorkshire Police will retain an operating helicopter base under the proposed new National Police Air Service.
“Although South Yorkshire Police will not have its own helicopter under the plans, the county will benefit from a 24 hour service that will provide a response within 20 minutes.
“The new national service will roll out from April 2012, with South Yorkshire due to become part of the service in January 2013, retaining its own helicopter until then.
“The National Police Air Service will cover South Yorkshire from three bases in West Yorkshire, Humberside and Derbyshire.
The spokeswoman added: “With South Yorkshire Police retaining a forward operating base, the intention is that a helicopter deployed to support South Yorkshire Police would land, refuel and await further deployment from Sheffield.
“The principle behind the new service is ‘borderless tasking’ – the helicopters will not belong to any individual force and the 20 bases will serve all forces according to priority.”
Scrapping the helicopter is expected to save the county’s police force £668,000 per year and the cost of operating an air base in Sheffield will be funded by the national service.
South Yorkshire Police Authority, which monitors the way the county’s police force is funded and performs, is set to discuss the issue at a meeting on Friday.
Staff who work on the helicopter will be able to transfer to the National Police Air Service.
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Comments
There are 13 comments to this article
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dromedary
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 07:48 PM#6. . . . As the saying goes "he would say that wouldn't he" . . . How much has crime reduced since its introduction?. . . . There have also been many times recently when the chopper was sent out looking for someone reported as missing only to find that they weren't missing after all. . . . . If anyone is interested in its cost and also the arrests that have been made as a direct result of its use then they can look under the freedom of information act on the SYP website. . . . It has details rather than second-hand anecdotes.
1graybags
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 04:34 PMthe public sector is a bottomless pit, the NHS in particular. Only the most moronic union leader or liberal left deficit denier denies things needs to be done to reduce the £billions it swallows up. I'd like to see all the people who moan at every cut suggest where cuts could be made. Stupid foreign wars is one area.
Woodseats Sammy
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 03:59 PMBtw, I hear 'our' helicopter helped recover 140K worth of drugs and stolen property in August alone, plus doing all its other assorted duties. And now we're going to have to compete for use with Leeds, Bradford, Hull, Derby..bearing in mind Humberside's helicopter also helps out North Yorkshire, and Derby's helps out Notts. Yeah, great idea.
moody1977
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 02:50 PMsorry but I am totally against the lose of the police helecopter, people of south yorkshire should not allow this to happen in the first place, you should feel bloody lucky that you have got one down here, from where I come from (Edinburgh) we don't have them up here the helecopter is a valued addition to the south yorkshire police, fight for its sevice, the criminals will be able to cause more mayhem if the helecopter is lost
1graybags
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 01:38 PMSheffielderinthesouth, I don't necessarily agree as cuts need to be made due to Labour's borrowing and spending on you public sector types ... but a good post and your spot on regarding the cost of a missile dropped on Libya and all our other foreign follies.
PoorRighteousTeacher
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 09:37 AMI'll get my Mystic Meg on and make a prediction of how this will turn out: "I'm an angry andor tax-paying member of the public! I demand to know how these armed robbers got away!" "Well, they ran in to some dark woods and we lost them, and the helicopter was in Humberside." "THIS IS A DISGRACE! I PAY TAX! What do we want? HELICOPTER! When do we want it? NOW!"
Woodseats Sammy
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 08:42 AMAnother ridiculous move - and another step towards the tory dream of a national police force. The helicopter's often over southern Sheffield - shame SYP don't have something on their webpage like other forces saying what it's been up to....
Sheffielderinthesouth
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 09:26 PMPost 2 - Clearly not a copper then as all of us who work in the job see on a daily basis how effective the helicopter is and how essential it is as part of day to day police work. Our helicopter down here has been directly responsible for hundreds of arrests, the same as SYP'S - It has also tracked at a safe distance many stolen vehicles meaning the public are not put at risk - so that the "Evo's" as you put it can stay at a safe distance until the right time arises to box it in or contain it and arrest the individuals. It should also be noted its not just about arrests - It's about how the helicopter can scour 1 square mile of land within a minute or two where as it could take a team of over 50 officers a full day if not more. When looking for bodies, missing persons etc the cost of a helicopter is FAR cheaper than hundreds of officers. It is also used for monitoring disorder, potential disorder, protests etc - which with the way the country is going I'm sure you will all agree is something which is going to happen more and more. The helicopter plays a MASSIVE role within the police service and the actual savings achieved from this stupid stupid decision are actually quite minimal when you consider that just ONE missile dropped on Libya cost us as tax payers over half a million! I wont go on, but needless to say it is an essential part of policing and the gap created with a lack of a fast police helicopter response will mean more and more car criminals and burglars getting away as the air support unit will take an age to get there. Gutted.
Boomdocker
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 05:42 PMWell done "Cleggy", once again you show your utter disregard for the people you represent. You are the biggest nodding dog the Tories have.
seenitall
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 03:36 PMIt makes sense to have a national scheme and a local base. But...once again SY loses out!
freedom
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 01:38 PMCar theft and joyriding will be up then!
dromedary
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 11:29 AMThe helicopter was responsible for very few arrests made by direct use of it and was not a very cost effective way of policing. . . . It may have been used in pursuing stolen vehicles but why then do they also have a fleet of Evos? . . . . All in all a good decision which will have very little impact on crime.
ISeeEverything
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 10:18 AMBut didn't Hughes sit on the panel that came up with this plan? I assume he thought it would be the 'back of beyond' counties that lost their choppers.
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