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PoopIsAlwaysSunny t1_je3hd1u wrote

Because that’s what we need: a bigger police helicopter for them to yell at children to leave a pool.

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philaiv t1_je3kor8 wrote

People seem to often bring this up as an example of a dumb use of the helicopters but last summer a child trespassing in the Patterson Park pool nearly drown. Because of this we should probably find a better example as to why the helicopters are wasteful spending as the city/police will no doubt use child safety for their position which is hard to argue against.

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Douseigh OP t1_je4j88l wrote

Personally I’ve seen them do about 80-90 vehicle pursuits of stolen vehicles over the past 2 years if that means anything…

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philaiv t1_je4ui4m wrote

It's good to hear that they're being used for crime. I personally don't know if they're worth it or not. I suspect they are since they're used by cities our size and larger around the world. Maybe not a great use for stolen vehicles but for car jackings definitely which is what I assume the majority of those were. My reply was because I find that the yelling at kids in pools argument so many make to be not a good argument and does their position on the matter a disservice.

1

DONNIENARC0 t1_je5u1j4 wrote

Yeah...

If we're gassing up the chopper for the sole purpose of telling kids to get out of closed pools... sure, that's pretty messed up and sounds horribly wasteful. I'd bet it's more of a side task that they swing by to accomplish after completing their main goal though.

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Honeyblade t1_je4o7ss wrote

For what that stupid monstrosity costs to put in the air you could hire 5 full time lifeguards and just keep the pool open later.

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philaiv t1_je4t83s wrote

Obviously that's not the only use for the helicopters. Just a very small fragment of its use (despite so many people in this sub going straight to that as the reason for it being wasteful spending). As OP pointed out in another comment, they're at least used to follow stolen vehicles which are often the result a car jacking.

Also, 5 lifeguards wouldn't work. We would need 24/7 lifeguards because children trespass at all hours.

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rockybalBOHa t1_je4yze1 wrote

Have you tried hiring lifeguards in the last 2 years? Not easy. Almost every pool is shortstaffed.

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StinkRod t1_je50et4 wrote

it bet it's easier if you have access to that helicopter money.

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rockybalBOHa t1_je6f5y0 wrote

Man, you people are really obtuse! You sound like Republicans. Every problem can be solved with a bumper sticker slogan! Build a wall!

−2

Honeyblade t1_je510r9 wrote

For what we spend on that helicopter we could train new ones and give them a decent salary. This is just a stupid use of resources - and rather than creating more resources for the community it's focused on punishing people, which is an objectively dumb way too deal with most societal problems that could be solved by creating more resources.

0

MbenedictR t1_je53baz wrote

seriously, make the academy class the lifeguards for a summer on rotating shifts. they spend time in the community and get to know ppl, and pools always safe because there is a cop on duty.

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rockybalBOHa t1_je6ei9c wrote

Sure, easy as pie!

1

Honeyblade t1_je6pcoa wrote

I never said it was easy, I said it was less expensive and actually served the interests of the community, but keep whatever shitty narrative that you want, I guess.

−1

TheBaltimoron t1_je8d3ik wrote

Hey let's get rid of all government services, that'd save tons of money!

0

Honeyblade t1_je9iq0x wrote

...both Police and public parks are government services. So I'm not sure what point you think you were making here?

0

TheBaltimoron t1_je8clc3 wrote

Yes, we should keep the pool with no lights that's free to use all day long open after dark in a closed park.

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DfcukinLite t1_je3oc8j wrote

But you still don’t need bigger planes to do that. That’s the point…

0

Matt3989 t1_je4yjx6 wrote

The Foxtrots were too old for the FAA to allow them to fly anymore. One had been ground permanently already, which is a big deal here considering that Baltimore Police have had already one fatal helicopter crash.

IIRC these have lower maintenance costs and longer maintenance intervals (which is why they bought 3 instead of the 4 foxtrots).

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philaiv t1_je3pjpi wrote

Yes but we don't know why it's bigger. We only know that OP has identified that it's bigger. Because of that I was only commenting on how helicopters are being used to yell at children is a commonly used phrase in this subrreddit, not anything about the helicopter being bigger. I apologize that my original comment wasn't more clear.

Edit: There is no need to vote u/MrBurittoThePizza's comment down. This does read like it was written by an AI lol

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MrBurittoThePizza t1_je3sjct wrote

You talk like AI ngl. My virtual assistant speaks just like this

−8

philaiv t1_je3tp6q wrote

01000100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01100111 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110111 01100001 01111001 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100011 01110010 01100101 01110100

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YoYoMoMa t1_je4x0uf wrote

You do not need a flying vehicle at all to tell kids to get out of a pool what the fuck is wrong with people?

−1

EthanSayfo t1_je6z2sm wrote

So that one occurrence is all the police have used helicopters for, for what, a few decades now? Ever?

Wow, they must have a lot of fun just flying around doing nothing 99.9999999999999999% of the time!

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YoYoMoMa t1_je75gfz wrote

We are talking about that one specific instance. If you want to talk about the use of the helicopter go literally anywhere else in this thread.

−1

S-Kunst t1_je481l1 wrote

I don't accept that choppers flying fast from down town to Charles Village at night (back & forth), CAN be productive. Its just like the guys on motorcycles making noise and getting attention.

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YoYoMoMa t1_je4xg3z wrote

It makes cops feel powerful and the people feel like they are being watched from on high though.

I have no idea how effective or efficient heli cops are, but "because the cops said it is" is about the last reason I will ever believe because I am not Charlie Brown with a football like so many people seem to be.

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RG_Viza t1_je5eydw wrote

One use of them is avoiding high speed vehicle chases through the city and preventing the inevitable resulting deaths from high speed chases. Tracking them from a helicopter and getting perpetrators when they stop the car and get out is safer. They can be bank robbers, shooters, whatever. They don’t just chase swimmers out of pools.

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S-Kunst t1_je798uv wrote

I accept that can be the case when they are moving slowly and during the day. When it is at night and they take only a couple minutes to do a round trip, No they cannot see anything on the ground.

I also add that nearly every week day (4:30-5pm) I sit in my tiny back yard, and at least one, generally more copters fly east to west or west to east. Taking about 20 seconds each time. From what I can see from the ground, they are not News Helicopters.

−1

DeliMcPickles t1_je7boli wrote

They have a light you know. Also they have FLIR. Do you think they just fly around in the dark with no idea where they are?

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YoYoMoMa t1_je5fekm wrote

I get that they have uses, but it is not a zero sum game. How many high speed chases do we have here? What are the stats about how cars drive when being chased by cops vs helis? Is establishing perimeters and road blocks safer? How much do alternatives cost vs a heli?

−4

RG_Viza t1_je5fqge wrote

I guy I went to high school with, Matt Hershel, died as a result of a high speed chase in Baltimore. He was walking on a sidewalk. They used to happen almost daily.

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EthanSayfo t1_je6yp5n wrote

Sorry to hear that. There was a video of a pedestrian being killed just the other day by a high-speed driver plowing into the sidewalk.

It happens a lot.

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YoYoMoMa t1_je5g268 wrote

I am sorry to hear that, but anecdotal evidence is exactly what we should not be looking for here.

−4

AmbitionOfPhilipJFry t1_je4mf51 wrote

Wtf, you're saying having under 15 seconds for live overhead observation for any crime in the city at any time 365/7 isn't productive?

The police are productive. It's the DAs and judges with their plea before judgment parole that detooth consequences. That and legislatures trying to allow blocks of criminals to operate at will: no pursuit of dirt bike policy means anything that can be carried in a backpack can go anywhere with impunity. They're trying to get rid of murder charges for people under 25. What age group demographic do you think commits the most murders? It's insanity.

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Scrilla_Gorilla_ t1_je4sq7m wrote

>The police are productive.

It's not even 9 and this is without a doubt the dumbest shit I'll read on the internet today.

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Dr_Midnight t1_je62aqo wrote

> They're trying to get rid of murder charges for people under 25.

"That's a nice argument, Senator. Why don't you back it up with a source?"

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AmbitionOfPhilipJFry t1_je68htn wrote

Maryland House Democrats are trying to outlaw felony murder charges for people under 25 years old, arguing that brain development isn't complete until that age.

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/bill-aims-to-outlaw-felony-murder-for-people-under-25-in-maryland

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Dr_Midnight t1_je68t4d wrote

Ah, I see. That bill's dead on arrival.

Also...

> says Hartford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler.

lmao.

2

YoYoMoMa t1_je4wso0 wrote

>The police are productive

LOL. And may I add, LMAO.

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winnower8 t1_je4n704 wrote

DAs, judges, and juries. Juries are citizen who want perfect CSI DNA evidence and a kingpin to be dealing on a corner with eye witness testimony. Juries or the people of Baltimore don’t want convictions.

−10

engin__r t1_je4xmbq wrote

So are you saying that juries want to actually make sure the person is actually guilty first?

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RoxxorMcOwnage t1_je5ed8n wrote

They won't convict because they don't trust the police who investigated the crime.

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Baltimore_Bill t1_je4uz6u wrote

Yeah. Its been flying for about a month now. The thing is a pain in the ass to fuel.

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BmoreBr0 t1_je4wuh4 wrote

Is it a pain because of the way the new chopper is physically configured, or because they have to constantly fly back to MTN?

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Baltimore_Bill t1_je4y3q7 wrote

It has a fuel strainer in the fueling point that has such little holes that if you dont trickle it in it burps out and makes a horrible mess. Then you smell like jet fuel and the cops come over and yell at us because for some reason they put some expensive sensor directly under it that the fuel can damage.

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keyjan t1_je54jsr wrote

That doesn’t seem very efficient. “Hey, we need the chopper in the air, stat!” “Sorry, it’s going to take another half hour to fuel it.”

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guest0112 t1_je56k6o wrote

Makes me think of when I was 21 and buying plastic handles of vodka and people used to say “remove the fun stopper first!!” Referring to that little plastic piece on the nozzle

3

Huge_Reception7715 t1_jecepqf wrote

Sheesh that seems ridiculous. Wonder what the sensor does. How those things look up close?

1

EthanSayfo t1_je6zitz wrote

Because almost all flights broadcast ADS-B at this point (other than some military flights), if you want to be a geek and track the Baltimore police helicopters or any other flight, I recommend checking out an app like Flightradar24.

Kind of fun, although I am one of those kinds of geeks.

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BOS2BWI t1_je75slu wrote

Does it still sound like a model airplane?

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DeliMcPickles t1_je7buxd wrote

Baltimore uses their helicopters better than most cities I've lived in.

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Nintendoholic t1_je5oric wrote

Sick, now they can ruin my concentration twice as well

−2

rooranger t1_je4rsns wrote

I need to find the purchase, maintenance and annual operation cost of this. I wonder if that money would be better spent on officers on the ground in neighborhood patrols, rather than the daily noise of helicopters circling over my peaceful town making it sound and feel like a crime ridden war zone. FT_ will do little or nothing to curb the gun violence in Baltimore.

−9

Douseigh OP t1_je4vewx wrote

Just google foxtrot Baltimore it’s there

3