The functions and costs of law enforcement aviation units

Lynn Langton Statistician Bureau of Justice Statistics Why study law enforcement aviation units? • Advantages of airborne policing – Able to cover distances faster- often 1st on scene – Greater visual range from the sky – Can cover otherwise impassible areas – Officers removed from dangers on the ground – Potential deterrent effect from patrols – Able to perform routine homeland security critical facility checks • Major drawbacks – /planes are expensive to obtain & operate – Helicopters generate substantial noise – Aerial patrol & surveillance viewed as obtrusive – Safety concerns Prior research on law enforcement aviation units • Schnelle et al. 1978 – Examination of the deterrent effect of patrols in Nashville, TN – Found reduction in burglaries during 6-day periods of helicopter patrol • Alpert et al. 1998 – NIJ helicopter pursuit study – Studied effectiveness of helicopters in pursuits in Baltimore, MD and Miami-Dade, FL – Over 80% arrest success rate when helicopters involved in pursuits Prior research on law enforcement aviation units • London Police Service Helicopter Research Project 1999-2000 – Assessed deterrent effect of helicopter patrols & impact of helicopter use on police efficiency – No effect of patrols except on rates of commercial breaking & entering – Improved police response times & rate of suspect apprehension • Toronto Police Service Air Support Unit evaluation 2000-2001 – More effective to hire 25 new officers than to pay $2.1 million for air support unit 2007 BJS Census of Law Enforcement Aviation Units • Census of agencies w/100+ sworn that reported operating a fixed-wing plane or helicopter in the 2003 BJS LEMAS survey • 1st national study on airborne law enforcement • Data collected from 3/08 to 9/08. • 98% response rate • N=201 • BJS report released in July 2009 – Aviation Units in Large Law Enforcement Agencies, 2007

Major findings- Full study • 1 in 5 large law enforcement agencies operated a plane or helicopter in 2007 • $300 million spent on aircraft purchase, leasing/financing, fuel, and maintenance – Median of about $350,000 • Units logged a median of 1,100 flight hours and 1,000 missions flown Aviation unit annual expenditures for aircraft by expen se, by type of agency, and type and number of aircraft, 2007. Expenditures Aircraft Aircraft leasing/ Aircraft Total purchase financing maintenance Aircraft fuel Sum for all units $282,900,000 $159,000,000 $16,800,000 $75,500,000 $34,900,000 Median per unit by type of agency All agencies $347,300 $2,150, 400 $279,500 $167,200 $80,600 State police 629,500 1,400,000 800,000 220,000 129,900 Municipal police 418,900 1,800,400 279,500 247,400 90,000 County police 359,700 5,112,100 … 170,500 124,500 Sheriff 193,000 3,100,000 220,000 100,000 56,300 Median per unit by number of aircraft per unit 1 aircraft $46,700 $340,000 $130,000 $15,000 $12,000 2-5 aircraft 325,000 2,015,000 250,000 124,000 73,000 6+ aircraft 1,469,800 2,800,000 1,502,500 500,000 296,800 Number of units 190 40 24 184 187 Median number of flight hours and miss ions flown per unit, plane, helicopter, and pilot, by type of agency, 2007. Median per- Type of agency & tracking Total Unit Plane Helicopter Pilot Flight hours All agencies 350,300 1,100 160 360 200 State police 137,600 2,000 190 270 190 Municipal police 131,900 1,400 180 540 250 County police 13,600 1,200 390 370 200 Sheriff 67,100 600 70 300 170 Missions flown All agencies 336,700 1,000 70 440 160 State police 44,500 800 90 140 120 Municipal police 189,700 1,700 80 690 330 County police 32,800 2,500 … 1,240 570 Sheriff 69,800 500 40 300 170

Distribution of the 53-unit sample across type of agency and number of full- time sworn personnel looks fairly similar to the distribution of aviation units from the full census.

Comparison of the distribution of sample aviation units to the full census of agencies across law enforcement agency type and size. Percent of units falling into each category Agency type and size 53-unit sample 201 aviation units Type of agency State police 21% 22% Local police 25 40 Sheriff's office 55 38 Full-time sworn personnel* 100-249 28% 22% 250-499 20 24 500-999 22 22 1000 or more 30 34 Characteristics of 53 aviation units. State Local Sheriffs' Characteristics All police police offices Number of units 53 10 13 29 Type of unit Plane-only 8215 Helicopter-only 24 1 8 15 Both 21 8 4 9 Number of aircraft per unit One 10 0 0 10 2-5 33 6 9 18 6 or more 10 5 4 1 Median annual expenditures $340,000 $877,000 $544,188 $292,465 As percent of agency operating budgeta 0.34% 0.75% 0.64% 0.25% Median number personnel assigned to unit FT sworn officers 7 11 9 6 Pilots 4553 Median flight hours 790 1,110 1,000 492 Median number missions flown 529 423 814 526 Average number of aircraft over 20 years old 2221 a. Data available for 91% of aviation units. Table. Percent of units that performed various functions in 2007.

Percent of aviation units Functions performed All agencies State police Local police Sheriffs' offices Number of aviation units (N) 53 10 13 29 General operations Respond to calls for service 96 % 100 % 100 % 93 % Direct assistance in arrest 91 100 100 83 Searches using thermal 81 82 100 72 Vehicle pursuits 93 100 100 86 Foot pursuits 90 100 100 82 Traffic enforcement citations 43 82 62 21 DUI arrests 43 55 62 31 Stolen vehicle recoveries 70 64 77 69 Photo flights 92 91 100 90 Counterterrorism missions 79% 73% 85% 79% SWAT operations Tactical insertions of SWAT members 42 % 55 % 15 % 48 % Tactical insertions via helicopter skid deployment 28 27 15 35 Tactical insertions via fast rope/rappel deployment 23 27 15 24 Incidents involving airborne use of force 9 0 15 10 EMS operations Searches for lost adventurers 79 % 82 % 62 % 86 % Hoist rescue missions 21 27 8 24 Other rescue missions 40 36 31 45 Respond to on-scene medical emergency 36 64 15 35 Transports to medical facilities 30 46 8 35 Surveillance operations Counternarcotics missions 87 % 91 % 100 % 79 % Other criminal surveillance missions 91 91 100 86 Prisoner transport Prisoner air transport 21 % 46 % 23 % 11 % Extraditions using unit aircraft 19 36 23 10 Firefighting 55% 64% 54% 52% Table. General operations functions performed. Median number of times general operations functions were performed in 2007 State police aviation units Local police aviation units Sheriff's office avaition units Functions performed 2-5 aircraft 6+ aircraft 2-5 aircraft 6+ aircraft 1aircraft 2-5 aircraft 6+ aircraft* Respond to calls for service 51 1577 824 7950 29 530 3595 Direct assistance in arrest 7 20 152 752 24 74 613 Searches using thermal imagery camera equipment 20 200 182 550 85 105 0 Vehicle pursuits 10 40 20 77 10 11 33 Foot pursuits 8 11 25 79 9 21 44 Traffic enforcement citations 120 348 125 50 7 0 0 DUI arrests 5 43 45 60 4 2 0 Stolen vehicle recoveries 2 15 7 60 15 10 207 Photo flights 11 165 29 50 10 30 89 Number of aviation units (N) 6 5 9 4 8 18 1 Aviation unit stolen vehicle recoveries as a percent of total reported motor vehicle thefts. 2007 Motor vehicle theft Reported Aviation unit Percent of motor vehicle stolen vehicle vehic les N* thefts recoveries recovered Local police units 10 27,894 889 3.2% 2-5 aircraft 6 11,462 445 3.9% 6+ aircraft 4 16,432 444 2.7% Sheriff's office units 17 7471 439 5.9% 1 aircraft 3 393 32 8.1% 2-5 aircraft 13 4,198 200 4.8% 6+ aircraft 1 2,880 207 7.2% Note: Data on reported motor vehicle thefts provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports, Incidents known to police by city and county agency, 2007. Data not available for state agencies. Local police and sheriff's data availabl * Includes aviation units that recovered stolen vehicles in 2007 and reported motor vehicle thefts numbers to the UCR. Table. Aviation units' driving under the influence (DUI) arrests as a percent of total agency DUI arrests. 2007 median driving under the influence (DUI) arrests Percent of aviation unit N* Agency-wide Aviation unit DUI arrests Local police units 8 2,225 105 4.7% 2-5 aircraft 4 1,583 45 2.8% 6+ aircraft 4 642 60 9.3% Sheriff's office units 5 426 14 3.3% 1 aircraft 2 327 4 1.2% 2-5 aircraft 3 99 10 10.1% Note: Data on DUI arrests provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data [United States]: Arrests by Age, Sex, and Race, 2007. State agencies not included. * Includes aviation units that made a DUI arrest in 2007. Table. Special operations functions performed, 2007. Median number of times special operations functions were performed in 2007 State police aviation units Local police aviation units Sheriff's office avaition units Functions performed 2-5 aircraft 6+ aircraft 2-5 aircraft 6+ aircraft 1aircraft 2-5 aircraft 6+ aircraft* Counterterrorism missions 3 100 300 559 19 50 0 Tactical insertions of SWAT members 2 3 0 24 2 2 1 Tactical insertions via helicopter skid deployment 11 4 0 24 2 2 0 Tactical insertions via fast rope/rappel deployment 1 4 0 4 -- 0 0 Incidents involving airborne use of force -- -- 0 0 -- 0 0 Searches for lost hikers/skiers/boaters 26 125 11 65 8 37 61 Hoist rescue missions -- 4 -- 2 -- 10 40 Other rescue missions 13 20 15 5 9 28 1 Respond to on-scene medical emergency 6 27 5 0 25 27 2 Transports to medical facilities 5 269 -- 0 16 23 2 Counternarcotics missions 7 96 30 46 11 25 2 Other criminal surveillance missions 12 99 30 52 7 20 2 Prisoner air transport 12 12 8 0 1 6 -- Extraditions using unit aircraft 8 12 8 0 186 18 -- Firefighting 3 10 12 19 20 10 -- -- Function is not performed by the aviation units. Total number of operations performed by aviation units . 2007 total aviation unit activity 2-5 aircraft 6+ aircraft Number of function performed Maximum Median Maximum Median State police units 8,500 300 117,300 5,300 General operations 8,400 200 111,600 1,700 Special operations 200 80 5,700 4,200

Local police units 8,600 2,100 26,100 9,900 General operations 8,100 1,900 24,200 9,200 Special operations 800 400 1,900 800

Sheriffs' office units 9,200 1,400 4,700 -- General operations 6,100 600 4,500 -- Special operations 4,500 200 200 -- General operations functions performed Median expenditures 150 or fewer times $203,250 (n=4) $49,670 (n=6) $300,000 (n=3) -- 151-1000 times $128,000 (n=7) $107,5 80 (n=3) $292,470 (n=3) $661,200 (n=2) 1001-2500 times $170,000 (n=1) $556,000 (n=4) $141,000 (n=3) $1,263,400 (n=5) Greater than 2500 times $129,900 (n=1) $6,4 43,160 (n=1) $770,340 (n=4) $2,101,680 (n=6) Special operations functions Greater than 500 performed 75 or fewer times 76-200 times 201-500 times times Future research

• Need for an examination of the contribution of law enforcement aviation units that takes into account the full range of functions performed by aviation units • Assessment of the factors impacting the cost of operating an aviation unit BJS report available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/aullea07.pdf