Авиация в правоохранительных органах

Use of aircraft in police operations

Police aviation is the use of aircraft in police operations. Police services commonly use aircraft for traffic control, ground support, search and rescue, high speed car pursuits, observation, air patrol and control of large scale public events and/or public order incidents. They may employ rotary wing aircraft, fixed wing aircraft, nonrigid wing aircraft or lighter than air aircraft. In some major cities, police rotary wing aircraft are also used as air transportation for personnel belonging to SWAT style units. In large, sparsely populated areas, fixed wing aircraft are sometimes used to transport personnel and equipment.

The first police aviation department was established in New York City. Fixed wing aircraft have generally been replaced by more versatile rotary wing aircraft since the late 1940s. However, fixed wing aircraft are still used in some missions, such as border patrol, as their higher speed and greater operating altitude allow larger areas to be covered. A large mural on the side of St. George's Town Hall in the East End of London depicting the 1936 Battle of Cable Street public order incident includes the police autogyro, that was present during the incident, overhead.

The most common form of police rotary wing aircraft is the helicopter, but other types of rotary wing aircraft such as autogyros are also used. The Groen Hawk 4 autogyro was used during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Police rotary wing aircraft are sometimes equipped to perform multiple functions, or are designed so that equipment can be changed quickly when required for divergent roles. For example, a rotary wing aircraft could be used for search and rescue, and then as an air ambulance. Police forces sometimes use military surplus rotary wing aircraft, such as the Bell UH 1 Huey. Some policing organisations, such as the Policía Federal in Mexico, acquire new military rotary wing aircraft such as the Sikorsky UH 60 Black Hawk. However, most buy civilian rotary wing aircraft directly from major aircraft companies or lease them from specialty suppliers. The use of police helicopters by the Los Angeles Police Department has been criticized for causing excessive noise and pollution and harming the well being of community members.

Some police air units also use fixed wing aircraft, which allow higher and quieter surveillance, The use of fixed wing aircraft also allows for longer flying times and incurs lower running costs. Fixed wing aircraft are also used to transport prisoners, perhaps being the largest example of this use. Fixed wing aircraft are also used to provide regular police patrols in remote communities and to transport investigators to remote crime scenes. and powered parachutes can sometimes be used to provide a cost effective replacement for helicopters in the observation platform role. The Edgley Optica was a British fixed wing aircraft built for observation use and was used by the Hampshire Constabulary as an alternative to rotary wing aircraft. The Britten Norman Defender is used by the Greater Manchester Police, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Garda Síochána. In Greater London, the Metropolitan Police Service has, for a number of years, reportedly been secretly using Cessna aircraft that have been fitted with surveillance equipment capable of intercepting mobile telephone calls and listening in on conversations.

Police blimps were used to patrol the sky during the 2004 Republican National Convention, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The blimp Santos Dumont, named for Alberto Santos Dumont, operates in the Caribbean for the Special Anti Crime Unit of Trinidad & Tobago (SAUTT), providing security surveillance. During April 2009, this blimp provided aerial surveillance of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain. Greater Manchester Police began trial operations of a blimp in 2010 to provide surveillance for major events, which would be a cheaper alternative to the use of a helicopter in the long term. However, the blimp was only used on 18 occasions because of weather related operational problems.

Police in some areas have started using unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, for surveillance operations. Unmanned aerial vehicles come in both fixed wing and rotary wing types.