Columbus Police Defend Six-Helicopter Unit

Bodie…I think you’re missing the sarcasm by TheRoof.  You and (s)he are saying the same thing!!  TheRoof isn’t trying to say that because NYC has 7 we SHOULD have 6…I think TheRoof is trying to indicate the same thing you are!  (At least that was MY interpretation).  As for them being referred to as “ghetto birds”, it’s not “the criminals” who gave them that nickname…it’s everyone ... block watch captains, general residents, pretty much all who live in less-than an upscale neighborhood refers to them as such.

How many bicycles can we buy for the cost of 1 helicopter?  Seems we’d have enough to surround ANY neighborhood with cops whenever needed for the price of just 1!!  Let’s put ALL cops on bicycles in low income areas!  We’d have five or six times the number of traiined police in those areas and I can picture someone trying to run from a crime scene in their stolen Cadillac Escalade only to face a virtual firing squad of cops at every entry/exit way just waiting for ‘em to try to get through ... weapons pointed directly at their windshield!  (WOW, what a picture!!)

C’mon - get rid of the copters!  at least four of ‘em!  we need 6 helicopters like a fish needs a bicycle (to quote a famous line)

NYC ?? what is the comparison ? The 7 birds they have can’t even fly in most of the airspace as limited as it is. The area isn’t anything like Columbus metro area that is open and low buildings so PLEASE can that comparison. Cleveland has 2 but uses only one. Do not compare our CPD to Their CPD. Cleveland has been a dying city for decades because of crime.Ciicinnati ? Forget that too the over the rhine area and other parts of the community would be better served if the street thugs were being watched from above. The criminals nicknamed the ‘copters “Ghetto Birds” for a reason they are effective at crime fighting and save time and lives and money. Media is reaching for a story that they are flipping the wrong direction. They should compare crime in cities where the birds don’t fly.

If police helicopters are so great then let’s get a hundred of them.  A thousand!  A helicopter for every cop!  There may be no ‘I’ in ‘team’, but there’s a ‘cop’ in every heli’cop’ter.  Maybe also get a few Harriers to run down off-duty cops on their motorcycles.

It would be worth raising the city income tax to 15%.  I’ve got money left over after paying the I.R.S., Social Security, Medicare, the state, sales tax on everything, excise taxes, tag and license fees, and God know what else.  So why not give it to Air Marshal Coleman and his Broad Street Escadrille?  Just think how safe we’ll be then.

Here’s the best idea yet: Get rid of four choppers, with their pilots and support crews, and use the money saved to CUT OUR TAXES!

While they’re at it, they can put mufflers on the two remaining choppers, and require mufflers on all helicopters that fly over the city.

Having cake and eating it? Joyrides ? These are obviously comments made by citizens who are ignorant on how vital the police helicopter is. The helicopter is dispatched on not only assisting officers with life threatening crimes such as shootings, and stabbing, but they assist officers in finding wrong way drivers on the freeway (yes Columbus there are people that do that), drunk drivers which you (the public call in), and finding young missing children. If youve ever been a victim of crime in which the helicopter succeeded with an apprehension you would know how vital the police helicopter is. So if your house is ever burglarized while you are home, your robbed at gunpoint on campus, or your 3 year old discovers how to open the unlock the front door then wave the chopper off when they appear over your house and they will move on..afterall..who needs the chopper ?