Lighting Up The Criminal World

Lighting up the Criminal World

     For those of you worried about the city running out of bad guys, you can relax. There are still plenty of them around as my hour and twenty minute ride in a Kansas City Police helicopter proved on a recent Friday night.

  I met officers Brent Thompson and Denny Mason at the police heliport in the Leeds area of Kansas City a few blocks southwest of the sports complex. The heliport is home to three 1968 Hughes Oh6’s helicopters and 1973 copter recently donated by the U.S. Army.

  Lights on the exterior of the hanger illuminated the blue colored copter sitting on the concrete pad. Even at rest it looked sleek and ready to fly into action at a moments notice.

  I watched the officers make their pre trip inspection of the aircraft and noted that it was a warm and exceptionally dark night without a full moon. The perfect combination for the criminal element I thought as I pulled my seat belt tight and watched the forty year old helicopter blades begin to slowly turn.

  The cover of darkness does indeed help the bad guys but it can also give them a false sense of security when the copter closes in on them. Several times from my lofty perch in the copter I saw people do their best to hide just to have the one million candle power spotlight turn darkness into day and reveal them.

  Over the next eighty minutes we responded to calls involving a foot chase, burglary, street disturbance, prowlers and an armed residential robbery. As we approached the house where the robbery took place officer Thompson noticed a white car two blocks away traveling at a high rate of speed on the wrong side of the road.

 Officer Mason had a decision to make as the copter easily over took the vehicle. He could use the spotlight or the infra red device mounted on the front of the Hughes Oh6 . The spotlight was his choice in this instance. A simple flick of a switch bathed the car and immediate area surrounding it in bright light but the driver could care less.  It was almost comical as he made numerous turns in a futile effort to get away. After a brief chase the occupants stopped in the middle of the road. All four doors flew open and the men hit the ground running.     

  With police ground units closing in the bad guys scrambled to find places to hide in a backyard.

Officer Thompson flew the helicopter in a tight circle while Officer Mason continued to sweep the area with the light. Both men directed the arriving officers by radio to where they could find the hiding crooks.

  Infra red is an amazing ally in locating criminals when they elect to use it. A man under its gaze appears on the screen as a gray image much like a person on a photo negative.

“It depends on the circumstances as to when we use it,” forty three year old Officer Thompson said. “A lot of times we don’t want the suspects to know we’re watching them.”

  A good example would be several people hiding in a backyard when patrol cars are still several minutes away. The pilots don’t want to scare them with the light and cause them to run so they will locate them with infra red but shine the spotlight on a neighboring yard causing them to think their well hidden. The officers will continue to sweep the wrong yard with the light but keep an eye on the crooks with infra red until ground units arrive. The light is then turned on the right yard and the officers round up the suspects.

   Whether their in a car or on foot most guilty people will run for cover when the police helicopter starts following them. “I’ve seen them hide under decks, crawl under cars, climb trees and burrow under bushes to hide from us,” four year veteran pilot Mason said. “They will even trying hiding behind a tree and keep moving around it as we fly in circles but it doesn’t do them much good. We usually catch them.”

  Once airborne the two officers begin scanning all the radio frequency’s for calls they think they can help with. Many times they will head to a scene before dispatch can call them. A few extra seconds can make all the difference in the world. On a weekend night it’s not unusual for them to be involved in a dozen or more calls.

   I was completely lost for most of my ride until we patrolled the northeast area of the city. I easily recognized St. John,

Independence Avenue

, Hardesty and Van Brunt from land marks but couldn’t begin to tell you the names of the pitch black streets running parallel to them. Incredibly, either pilot could glance at any street I pointed to and immediately identify it.

“Memory,” Officer Thompson said when I asked him how they know one street from another in the dark. “We’ve memorized how many blocks each side street is from a main road. If we were looking for Lawndale for example, we would simply count three blocks to the east of Hardesty to locate it.”

  It’s rare but occasionally the helicopter will land to assist in an arrest when the situation warrants it. They will only touch down long enough for the co-pilot to get out and the pilot will immediately lift off again to continue accessing the situation.

  I was amazed at what a tremendous help the helicopter crew is to the police department and neighborhoods it protects across the city. I for one will sleep a little easier at night knowing men like Officers Thompson and Mason are patrolling high above our homes fighting crime.