[sanjuro]

The San Jose Police Department is temporarily grounding its helicopter to save money.

Sgt. Jason Dwyer told the San Jose Mercury News the department will halt use of the chopper for at least three months, then evaluate its saving and actual impact on public safety.

The chopper costs the department about $1.4 million to run each year - mostly for pilot salary and benefits. Any actual savings would be about $400,000 in fuel and maintenance.

Four officers designated as pilots will be transferred back to patrol. The department could still use a fixed-wing airplane.

The chopper shutdown comes as the city faces a $110 million budget deficit. The 1,250-officer department also faces possible officer layoffs, which city officials have currently estimated could total up to 350.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/02/28/state/n093827S65.DTL#ixzz1FHNWtnAR

Probably not. Hunting trail poachers is critical.

 

[EBrider]

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/02/28/state/n093827S65.DTL#ixzz1FHNWtnAR

Probably not. Hunting trail poachers is critical.

Plus EBRPD has plenty of cash since WW passed.

 

[JoeBMX]

I, for one, enjoy being chased around by a helicopter when riding my bike. Makes me feel like Jason Bourne or something... I'm just waiting for him to land on a road so I can gap over his rotors.

 

[zorg]

I doubt it. The birds are the only reasonable way to cover 100,000 acres spread over so much territory. It's not like they can dispatch foot patrol to go around every park.

 

[Fiskare]

No. Because their money sources are almost immune. Which is actually bad.

 

[monkei]

Could EBRPD be next?

One can only hope.... My buddies got megaphoned by the choppa while poaching ridge singletrack around dusk 2 weeks back.

It blows my mind that the district can afford to patrol by air... I could see using choppers to perform search&rescue, but to use it regularly as a way to keep mtbr's offa illegal singletrack seems like a tremendous waste of resources to everyone I've ever discussed it with.

 

[sanjuro]

I doubt it. The birds are the only reasonable way to cover 100,000 acres spread over so much territory. It's not like they can dispatch foot patrol to go around every park.

I hear bicycles can go twice as fast as walking...