69 detained with support of helicopter
ALMOST 70 people were detained following intervention from the police support helicopter in the past three months, new figures have revealed.
Across three counties, a total of 166 people were arrested during the 2007/08 period as a result of searches by the East Midlands Air Support Unit.
The police helicopter spent just over 909 hours flying over Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire during the last 12 months, at a cost of 1,000-an-hour.
Supt Mark Lacey, head of operations at Northamptonshire Police, said: “There were some reliability issues with the aircraft last year and as such the police helicopter did not spend as much time in the air as we would usually expect.
“However those issues have been resolved now. We have a brand new aircraft. The twin-engined Eurocopter has the latest technology on board and boasts improved day and thermal image cameras to help in the search for missing people and offenders.
“In fact, the figures for the first quarter of this year show that the arrest rate and the number of arrests the helicopter assisted with are both up on the same period in 2007.”
Between April and June this year, 69 people in Northamptonshire were arrested thanks to the work of the helicopter team, with the air support unit assisting in the arrests of 84 more. This compares with 63 arrests and 53 assists during the same period in 2007.
Email to a friend
Print this page- BREAKING NEWS: Man dies following motorway smash on Northamptonshire border
- BREAKING NEWS: Police inundated with hundreds of complaints over snowball fights
- Huge cigarette haul by masked burglars in armed raids at Northampton stores
- BREAKING NEWS: Police name man killed in crash on motorway in Northamptonshire
- Student flats planned for Northampton town centre revealed
- BREAKING NEWS: Fishmarket art gallery offered new home
- Student flats planned for Northampton town centre revealed
- New manager of Northampton’s Grosvenor Centre says ‘This is the beginning of a new era’
- Neighbours raise concern about bid to build new house three inches from their home
- Four-storey replacement for Fishmarket gallery should open in September
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Northampton
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 5 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
