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LAPD Police Claim Helicopters Stop Crimes Before They Happen
HughPickens.com writes True Angelenos don't even bother to look up when one of the LAPD's 17 helicopters rattles their windows searching for a car-jacked Camry or an assault suspect hiding under a jacaranda but few doubt that more bad guys would get away without the nation's largest police helicopter fleet to help chase them. Now the LA Times reports that data shows that LA's helicopters are stopping crimes before they happen. Tapping into the data-driven policing trend, the department uses heat maps, technology and years of statistics to identify crime "hot spots." Pilots then use their downtime to fly over them, on the theory that would-be criminals tend to rethink their nefarious plans when there's "ghetto birds," as Ice Cube calls them, hovering overhead [explanatory video with annoying sound]. Months of data show that the number of serious crimes reported in the LAPD's Newton Division in South L.A. fell during weeks when the helicopters conducted more flights. During the week of Sept. 13, when the helicopter unit flew over Newton 65 times, the division recorded 90 crimes. A week later, the number of flights dropped to 40 and the number of reported crimes skyrocketed to 136, with rises seen among almost all types of crime, including burglary, car theft and thefts from vehicles. "It's extremely cutting edge," says Capt. Gary Walters, who heads the LAPD's air support unit. "It's different. It's nothing that we've ever done before with this specificity."
But Professor Geoffrey Alpert. a policing expert who has studied the use of police helicopters in Miami and Baltimore, says the choppers can deter crime in the short-term but criminals will likely return when they're not around (PDF). "You are deterring the criminals but you aren't getting rid of them and their intent. Those criminals could strike in a different time and place," says Alpert. "I mean that's the whole thing about random patrol. You see a police car and it's the same thing. You hide, he goes around the block and you go back to your breaking and entering."
But Professor Geoffrey Alpert. a policing expert who has studied the use of police helicopters in Miami and Baltimore, says the choppers can deter crime in the short-term but criminals will likely return when they're not around (PDF). "You are deterring the criminals but you aren't getting rid of them and their intent. Those criminals could strike in a different time and place," says Alpert. "I mean that's the whole thing about random patrol. You see a police car and it's the same thing. You hide, he goes around the block and you go back to your breaking and entering."
Is the LAPD so bad that they need a police force that exists just to keep them in line?
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I'd use a drone instead of a chinook and run a community program with the money saved on helicopter fuel .
Translated LAPD Police tries to justify their bloated helicopter budget.....
Combine liberalized concealed carry with the police subsidizing the purchase of guns and ammo by law-abiding, poor concealed carry holders. Let them also use police shooting ranges for free as long as they're in good standing. Then, on the street, take a reflexively pro-CCW holder stance until the facts say otherwise.
I think helicopters would work better than drones here because they're a visible and audible reminder of the police. I think seeing a police officer walking down the street would work as well. There are a bunch of impulsive people who will behave better, if they saw a cop earlier that night.
Worked where it was tried, but I think it was dropped when the Next Great Idea came along.
In the UK, I'd explain that with the ridiculous "targets" based policies.
Say you put a cop walking around in a really bad neighbourhood and suddenly crime there stops altogether. You think that's perfect. The people living there (except the criminals) think it's perfect. Life is good. Then someone higher up in the police force notices that this cop hasn't solved a single crime, and his target is to solve x crimes per month. So he is taken off the beat, crime returns, and he happily solves ten percent of the crimes and makes his target.
So criminals will wait until the police pass by before committing a crime. Pretty obvious. .
Except that it is not "obvious". Most crime is opportunistic. Take away the opportunity, and you take away the crime. Criminals do not operate on a "quota system". The additional flights lowered crime over the entire period measured, so there is no evidence that criminals were just waiting for the helicopters to pass by.
The 'peaceful enjoyment of liberty' of hundreds of innocent citizens is being infringed to prevent a few car break-ins.
These copters are LOUD. And in these 'pre-crime' patrols, they make liberal use of their spotlight, essentially treating ordinary citizens as criminal suspects. They even invade Santa Monica (independently incorporated city), circling endlessly for 3 hours at a stretch in the middle the night, depriving entire neighborhoods'-worth of a restful night of sleep.
Oh, the best part, was on a radio interview show: The LAPD guy justified the practice on economic grounds! Wah, we just don''t have enough officers to patrol... Really? How much does a helicopter cost to operate? Maybe $300-500 per hour? Plus the two pigs along for the ride are getting salary. Could that money not be spent on neighborhood patrols on foot, or at least in squad cars?
It's ridiculous.