The functions and costs of law enforcement aviation units

Lynn LangtonStatistician

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 aircraft patrols– Able to perform routine homeland security critical

facility checks• Major drawbacks

– Helicopters/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 helicopter

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 police 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

Total Aircraft purchase

Aircraft leasing/ financing

Aircraft 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 agencyAll agencies $347,300 $2,150,400 $279,500 $167,200 $80,600State police 629,500 1,400,000 800,000 220,000 129,900Municipal police 418,900 1,800,400 279,500 247,400 90,000County police 359,700 5,112,100 … 170,500 124,500Sheriff 193,000 3,100,000 220,000 100,000 56,300

Median per unit by number of aircraft per unit1 aircraft $46,700 $340,000 $130,000 $15,000 $12,0002-5 aircraft 325,000 2,015,000 250,000 124,000 73,0006+ aircraft 1,469,800 2,800,000 1,502,500 500,000 296,800

Number of units 190 40 24 184 187

Expenditures

Aviation unit annual expenditures for aircraft by expense, by type of agency, and type and number of aircraft, 2007.

Total Unit Plane Helicopter Pilot

Flight hoursAll agencies 350,300 1,100 160 360 200State police 137,600 2,000 190 270 190Municipal police 131,900 1,400 180 540 250County police 13,600 1,200 390 370 200Sheriff 67,100 600 70 300 170

Missions flownAll agencies 336,700 1,000 70 440 160State police 44,500 800 90 140 120

Municipal police 189,700 1,700 80 690 330County police 32,800 2,500 … 1,240 570Sheriff 69,800 500 40 300 170

Type of agency & tracking

Median number of flight hours and missions flown per unit, plane, helicopter, and pilot, by type of agency, 2007.

Median per-

Agency type and size 53-unit sample 201 aviation unitsType of agency

State police 21% 22%Local police 25 40Sheriff's office 55 38

Full-time sworn personnel*100-249 28% 22%250-499 20 24500-999 22 221000 or more 30 34

Percent of units falling into each category

Comparison of the distribution of sample aviation units to the full census of agencies across law enforcement agency type and size.

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.

Characteristics of 53 aviation units.

Characteristics AllState police

Local police

Sheriffs' offices

Number of units 53 10 13 29

Type of unitPlane-only 8 2 1 5Helicopter-only 24 1 8 15Both 21 8 4 9

Number of aircraft per unitOne 10 0 0 102-5 33 6 9 186 or more 10 5 4 1

Median annual expenditures $340,000 $877,000 $544,188 $292,465As percent of agency operating budgeta 0.34% 0.75% 0.64% 0.25%

FT sworn officers 7 11 9 6Pilots 4 5 5 3

Median flight hours 790 1,110 1,000 492

529 423 814 526

2 2 2 1a. Data available for 91% of aviation units.

Average number of aircraft over 20 years old

Median number missions flown

Median number personnel assigned to unit

Table. Percent of units that performed various functions in 2007.

All agencies State police Local police Sheriffs' officesNumber of aviation units (N) 53 10 13 29

General operationsRespond to calls for service 96 % 100 % 100 % 93 %Direct assistance in arrest 91 100 100 83Searches using thermal 81 82 100 72Vehicle pursuits 93 100 100 86Foot pursuits 90 100 100 82Traffic enforcement citations 43 82 62 21DUI arrests 43 55 62 31Stolen vehicle recoveries 70 64 77 69Photo flights 92 91 100 90

79 % 73 % 85 % 79 %

SWAT operationsTactical insertions of SWAT members 42 % 55 % 15 % 48 %Tactical insertions via helicopter skid deployment 28 27 15 35Tactical insertions via fast rope/rappel deployment 23 27 15 24Incidents involving airborne use of force 9 0 15 10

EMS operationsSearches for lost adventurers 79 % 82 % 62 % 86 %Hoist rescue missions 21 27 8 24Other rescue missions 40 36 31 45Respond to on-scene medical emergency 36 64 15 35Transports to medical facilities 30 46 8 35

Surveillance operationsCounternarcotics missions 87 % 91 % 100 % 79 %Other criminal surveillance missions 91 91 100 86

Prisoner transportPrisoner air transport 21 % 46 % 23 % 11 %Extraditions using unit aircraft 19 36 23 10

55 % 64 % 54 % 52 %

Percent of aviation units Functions performed

Counterterrorism missions

Firefighting

Table. General operations functions performed.Median number of times general operations functions were performed in 2007State police aviation units Local police aviation 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 3595Direct assistance in arrest 7 20 152 752 24 74 613Searches using thermal imagery camera equipment 20 200 182 550 85 105 0Vehicle pursuits 10 40 20 77 10 11 33Foot pursuits 8 11 25 79 9 21 44Traffic enforcement citations 120 348 125 50 7 0 0DUI arrests 5 43 45 60 4 2 0Stolen vehicle recoveries 2 15 7 60 15 10 207Photo flights 11 165 29 50 10 30 89

Number of aviation units (N) 6 5 9 4 8 18 1

Sheriff's office avaition units

N*

Reported motor vehicle thefts

Aviation unit stolen vehicle recoveries

Percent of vehicles 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.

Aviation unit stolen vehicle recoveries as a percent of total reported motor vehicle thefts.

2007 Motor vehicle theft

N* Agency-wide Aviation unit

Percent of 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. Aviation units' driving under the influence (DUI) arrests as a percent of total agency DUI arrests.

2007 median driving under the influence (DUI) arrests

Table. Special operations functions performed, 2007.Median number of times special operations functions were performed in 2007State police aviation units Local police aviation 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 0Tactical insertions of SWAT members 2 3 0 24 2 2 1Tactical insertions via helicopter skid deployment 11 4 0 24 2 2 0Tactical insertions via fast rope/rappel deployment 1 4 0 4 -- 0 0Incidents involving airborne use of force -- -- 0 0 -- 0 0Searches for lost hikers/skiers/boaters 26 125 11 65 8 37 61Hoist rescue missions -- 4 -- 2 -- 10 40Other rescue missions 13 20 15 5 9 28 1Respond to on-scene medical emergency 6 27 5 0 25 27 2Transports to medical facilities 5 269 -- 0 16 23 2Counternarcotics missions 7 96 30 46 11 25 2Other criminal surveillance missions 12 99 30 52 7 20 2Prisoner 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 --

Sheriff's office avaition units

-- Function is not performed by the aviation units.

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 --

2-5 aircraft 6+ aircraft

Total number of operations performed by aviation units .

2007 total aviation unit activity

General operations functions performed

150 or fewer times $203,250 (n=4) $49,670 (n=6) $300,000 (n=3) --

151-1000 times $128,000 (n=7) $107,580 (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) $6,443,160 (n=1) $770,340 (n=4) $2,101,680 (n=6)Special operations functions performed 75 or fewer times 76-200 times 201-500 times

Greater than 500 times

Median expenditures

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