Fort Worth police will get a new crime fighting tool: A $4.5 million Bell helicopter
The Fort Worth Police Department will replace an aging helicopter with a brand new $4.5 million Bell chopper that will assist patrols and SWAT units.
The department hopes to have the new helicopter, called Air One, by November so it can phase out a 22-year-old aircraft that has 24,000 flight hours. That helicopter has lived pasted its usefulness, Assistant Chief Robert Alldredge told city council members Tuesday before they approved the purchase.
The police department has floated the idea of replacing one of its two helicopters since at least 2016. The other helicopter, a 2003 model, has 13,900 flight hours.
The Bell 505 police helicopter costs about $2.4 million, with additional technology and equipment at about $1.7 million. A Bell training course runs just under $245,000.
Most of the funding for the new helicopter comes from the Crime Control Prevention District, which uses a half-cent sales tax to fund police efforts, including vehicles, training and equipment. Voters will be asked in May to extend the tax for 10 years. About $876,000 will come from a 2016 allocation from the city’s general fund.
The 15 person air support division has an annual budget of nearly $2 million. The city expects to spend $450,000 per year for maintenance and fuel. A 2018 Bell 505 costs about $465 per hour to fly, according to avbuyer.com, an aviation purchasing website.
When the department last floated the idea of buying a new helicopter in the spring of 2018, it said it wanted the ability to shoot from the aircraft, drop officers onto rooftops and perform land and water rescues, among other things. Some of those practices, like shooting from the helicopter, are barred under department policy.
After looking at two larger helicopters, an Airbus model and another Bell, police chose the smaller Bell 505 because it is more affordable and cheaper to operate, Alldredge said.
Mindia Whittier spoke against the purchase at Tuesday’s council meeting. She raised concerns about the helicopter’s price, asking if the city had done enough due diligence to justify the expense. Her research showed similar helicopters could last up to 100,000 flight hours, she said.
“One thing that concerns me about it is that it feels like increased militarization when really what we have are communities expressing concerns that they already feel over policed,” she said.
It’s unclear how often the department has used its two helicopters. Asked how many times a helicopter was deployed in 2019, a police spokesman responded that a formal records request would be needed to gather the information. Councilman Brian Byrd asked a similar question during a briefing on the purchase, but was told staff would need to track down the information.
Sgt. Chris Daniels said in an email Air One is deployed almost weekly to assist patrol units, special response teams, SWAT and other divisions.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 8:33 PM.
