Police to get new chopper

Dave Brooks

The Huntington Beach Police Department is getting a new eye in the

sky.

Monday, the council approved the purchase of a MD520 Notar

helicopter to replace a 13-year-old chopper of the same model. That

vehicle had already accumulated 11,000 flight hours, Chief Ken Small

wrote in a memo to the City Council. Small said it would be a better

investment to buy a new helicopter than to continue to maintain the

old one.

The new helicopter will cost the city about $1.4 million and will

come from a number of funding services: about $161,000 will come from

a fund created by the Holly Seacliff Development; $453,000 will come

from a special fund from the sale of abandoned vehicles; $248,000

will come from a narcotics forfeiture fund; $350,000 will be from the

sale of the old helicopter; and $181,000 will come from the city’s

general fund.

The police have operated with an aeronautics unit since 1968.

Small said the unit works best with three helicopters in operation,

maximizing the number of available flights while allowing for regular

maintenance work.

“We use it for a lot of different types of support of the patrol

function,” Sgt. Tom Arnold said. “A lot of the things the guys do

from the air, we do from the ground.”

Last year HB1 -- the aerial unit’s code name on police radio --

was responsible for catching 91 intoxicated drivers and helping

police make 200 felony arrests.

“If a call comes out for a burglary or a robbery, we normally get

there first 98% of the time,” Arnold said.

Most often the helicopter works as the city’s eye in the sky and

radios information to ground units, but sometimes the chopper touches

down to help.

Once, the officers received a call that a girl’s hair had become

trapped in a hot tub and that she was in danger of drowning. To save

the little girl, the helicopter landed in a nearby cul-de-sac and

sent an officer into the house to assist.

Besides police patrols, the unit also responds to fires and marine

rescues and has even taken aerial photographs for the planning

department. Right now the helicopter unit is working with Orange

County Vector Control to patrol for potential mosquito breeding

areas.

Notar began selling helicopters to the city in 1992 after the city

became concerned about the safety of its tail-rotor helicopters,

eventually phasing the helicopters out by 2001.

By replacing the new helicopter, Small argued, the city would

avoid about $444,000 in repair costs to the old unit in the next

three years.

The city officials will borrow about $507,000 to fund part of the

purchase, as well as well as a payment of $350,000 up front and

another $350,000 in the next couple of months.