What does it mean when the police copter flies over?
I got this question from Paul Marx of Towson:
Dear Peter:
Can you help with this? Saturday night in Towson between approximately 10 and 10:30 four Baltimore County police cars with lights flashing were parked on W. Pennsylvania Ave. near York Road and the entrance to the Towson Commons. I observed this from my apartment on the 23rd floor of the nearby Ridgely Condominium. For most of this time a helicopter circled the site and came close enough to the Ridgely building to cause concern. If a helicopter could have been of use to the police, there was no close spot where it could set down. I concluded that the helicopter served no useful purpose but burned a lot of fuel.
Could you possibly find out whether this helicopter was indeed a police helicopter. Are you familiar with the protocol for the use of helicoptors by the police? What are their main purposes both in the City and the County? Are there recent instances in which police helicopters have been genuinely useful?
I have a question out to Baltimore County police to see if they can tell us why the helicopter was flying over at this location at this time. Above is a picture of the Baltimore police helicopter flying over where two city officers got shot in 2007 at Orleans and Port streets. The photo was taken By the Baltimore Sun's Glen Fawcett).
I'm not sure about patrol hours in the county, but in the city, Foxtrot, as the helicopter is called, is up almost 24 hours a day. And just like patrol cars, the chopper "patrols" the city. So just because it's pilot is hovering over a street doesn't mean something horrific is happening -- the pilot could be checking a routine car stop to make sure everyone is OK, or looking for suspects in a robbery or tracking a stolen car. Or something just caught the obverser's eye and he wants to check it out more.
At night, they use their spotlights to help cops light up the streets. In this particular case, it's hard to know if the copter was trying to set down or get closer to whatever was happening on the ground.
Hopefully Baltimore County police get back to me with a specific answer.
Comments
While you are at it, maybe you can ask why the police feel it is ok to do circles over my house in Dundalk at least once a week. I know this question seems to have an obvious answer - Dundalk has more criminals hence more police helicopter presence. However, My husband, myself, and our chilren have been woken more than once out of a dead sleep thinking there was an earthquake in Dundalk, only to find out that our house was shaking from a helicopter flying very low. I'm pretty sure their spot lights work just as effectively from a higher altitude, right? Thanks
Posted by: alicia | October 6, 2009 3:37 PM
Wow. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Posted by: CatsMcGee | October 7, 2009 1:05 PM
I also would like to know why the helicopters are flying more and more frequently above my home in the middle of the night. Isn't there some kind of noise ordinance or privacy laws on the books to protect citizens from this harrassment? It's terrifying. Last night I was woken from dead sleep as they flew overhead for 40 minutes. Then I heard them off in the distance for 2 hours until I finally fell back asleep. Nothing on the news to justify this nonsense. We are all just supposed to think it's ok that they patrol the streets from overhead shinning lights into our homes and cars in the name of safety. Watch out folks more and more freedoms are lost everyday in the name of safety
Posted by: Anonymous | October 21, 2009 8:38 AM