Crime & Safety
Hear That Helicopter? It's the Cops
The Tampa Police Department's Aviation Unit can he hard to ignore at times for Central Tampa residents. But airborne cops are using high technology and good old fashioned vigilance to help rack up hundreds of arrests a year.
Work-at-home graphic designer Joe Clay is a night owl. When it comes to his work, “Usually I don't get started until 11 or 12," he said.
And so Clay, who lives in Old Seminole Heights, hears the police helicopters at night. ”Like over and over and over," he said. "There are periods where it's like every day of the week there's a helicopter just circling around my block." If he hears the helicopter right before bedtime, "I just don't bother to try to go to sleep,” said Clay.
To help clear the air, if you will, about the hows and whys of aerial police work, we talked to Todd Curabba, a pilot with the Tampa Police Department's Aviation Unit.
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"We have to abide by all FAA regulations,” during flight, Curabba said. On top of that, he said, the police helicopters fly at a general patrol altitude of 700 feet. "We'll go down to 500 feet for identification purposes, or if the situation dictates."
Each of the police department's four helicopters are equipped with a Lockheed Martin Gyrocam system. It has a 40 power zoom lens, infrared night vision, and gyroscopic image stabilization that prevents the helicopter's vibrations from distorting the video footage. The images are displayed in color to the helicopter crew, or can be downlinked to a command post on the ground.
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The Gyrocam's night vision explains why the helicopters can circle at night without a search light. As for the engine noise, Curabba said the Aviation Unit has no noise abatement guidelines. But police pilots try to stick to the 500 to 700 foot envelope because, "We believe that's a safe altitude for us to operate in," said Curabba, "and also for noise abatement, we think that's a good altitude to patrol at. A rule of thumb we use is if we can see it utilizing the camera system, we try to stay as high as possible.”
The Aviation Unit can patrol all areas of the city at any time of the day or night. According to the police department, in 2010 the unit flew 2,220 hours, responded to 3,550 calls for service, and assisted in 344 arrests.
The unit consists of four helicopters: a Hughes OH-6 Cayuse, two Bell 407s, and a Bell 206 JetRanger.
To see the Tampa Police Aviation Unit assisting in the arrest of a suspect at night in South Seminole Heights, go to this link: