Winnipeg police chopper gaffe embarrassing, also security risk, union says
Criminologist wants to know why officers have so much time on their hands while they are in the air
The Winnipeg Police Association says while the police officers involved in the "x-rated" chopper talk incident Monday are appropriately embarrassed, it should be more concerning from a security point of view.
The fact that has come to the union's attention is that there is no indicator light within the aircraft to tell the officers inside that the loudspeaker is active. That is of the greatest concern to the association's Vice President George Van Mackelbergh.
"To most people they'd say, 'how would you not know that that was on?' But again, they're inside of an airship, they're under the turbine, you don't hear anything except the airship," Mackelbergh said Wednesday.
Theoretically, in the worst-case scenario, Mackelbergh said that this could occur again while they are pursuing a criminal which would put the officers' operational security on the line.
"It would put our people at risk and certainly deter us from apprehending," Mackelbergh said.
Why are they so bored?
"I think most of us know that people have conversations, they might be a bit racy, they might be adult conversations but I don't think anyone thinks that's a great risk to anything," said Frank Cormier, a criminology professor at the University of Manitoba.
The professor says the incident does raise concerns to him as a taxpayer.
"If the officers in the helicopter really have so little to do while they're up there that this kind of conversation is even possible; people I think are justified in saying 'do we really need these folks up there?'" said Cormier.
These officers are also operating a significant piece of equipment and Cormier wouldn't mind seeing some reassurance that safety wasn't being compromised by their distractions.
"I don't think it's at all specific to police. It might perhaps be a little more specific to people who have an extremely high-powered broadcast speaker in their office," Cormier joked.
Cormier says the apology makes up for the "whoops factor" but it doesn't cut it in terms of knowing what the police are doing up there in the first place.
The cost of Air-1
Each year the Winnipeg Police Service releases a report on the activities of the Air-1 helicopter and the city's Flight Operations Unit. The most recent report, based on January 2013 to December 2013 indicated the cost of the helicopter was $1,518,211.97.
- 2013: $1,518,211.97
- 2012: $1,327,590.00
- 2011: $1,196,693.90
That bill covered the helicopter flying for 986.2 hours and responding to 2,793 events and was instrumental in apprehending 200 people.