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New copter gives Cayman a lift
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| Published on Sunday, March 7, 2010 |
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Commissioner of Police, David Baines (front row 2nd left), with other members of Government (left-right): Deputy Chief Officer in the Deputy Governor’s Office, Eric Bush; Deputy Premier,
Hon Julianna O’Connor-Connolly; Deputy Governor, Donovan Ebanks; Head of the Governor’s Office, Steve Moore, are pictured here with members of the Air Operations Unit of the RCIPS
and crew of the police helicopter, which landed at the Owen Roberts International Airport on Thursday, 4 March.
The long-awaited RCIPS helicopter landed at Owen Roberts International Airport around 3.30pm last Thursday, following a two-day flight from its previous base in Louisiana.
Training for the officers who will operate in the newly-formed RCIPS Air Operations Unit will begin right away, and the public can expect to see the aircraft in the air in the next few weeks. The unit and the aircraft will be based at the Owen Roberts International Airport.
Commissioner of Police, Mr David Baines is working closely with the Cayman Islands Civil Aviation Authority to obtain a Police Air Operations Certificate once the necessary training, equipment checks and aircraft testing have taken place.
“There is still a bit of work to be done before the helicopter becomes fully operational,” said Mr Baines, “However, it’s important to everyone involved that we ensure that we meet the very high standards of training and aircraft effectiveness required to allow us to obtain the relevant certification.”
The commissioner said the safety of the crew and of Cayman’s communities takes top priority, requiring the “stringent” safety and training standards for proper certification, resulting in a delay in order to get it done.
“But it is great to see the helicopter finally touch down in the Cayman Islands,” he added. “It has taken much longer than originally planned to get it here but I’m sure that our communities will soon appreciate how useful the helicopter will be.”
The RCIPS will be enhanced with the arrival of their helicopter as it will aid in locating missing people, saving lives, catching criminals and protecting Cayman’s porous borders. Police air support units have been established in most developed parts of the world and the benefits have been widely documented.
The helicopter will enable RCIPS officers to effectively get a ‘bird’s eye view’ of what is happening in the Cayman Islands, a vantage point.
The helicopter can cover vast areas of land and sea, allowing the police service to conduct searches, operations, and track offenders. “This new crime-fighting tool will soon become a common sight in the air above Cayman,” said Mr Baines, “and will have a tremendous impact on the operational capacity of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.”
The EC135 helicopter is fitted with FLIR, forward-looking infrared cameras and broadcast quality daylight cameras, all with recording facility for evidence; aviation police radios; a Nightsun light capable of lighting up the area of a football field; the ‘Skyshout’ public address system capable of alerting the public on the ground, whether it is on the lookout for a missing person, or offender, or other information in a critical incident; a video downlink system allowing the camera images to be relayed to other officers or commanders on the ground, giving the benefit of real time images to those on the ground.
“The tendering process for the provision of maintenance and piloting for the long term use of the helicopter is still underway,” said Mr Baines, “however, until these longer-term issues are resolved, we have independently secured these services on an interim basis to make sure that the RCIPS, and our Cayman Islands communities, will benefit from the services the helicopter can provide as quickly as possible.”
The Commissioner of Police was joined at Owen Roberts Airport by the Deputy Premier, the Hon. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly; Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks; and Mr Richard Smith, Director-General of the Cayman Islands Civil Aviation Authority, to see the aircraft touch down for the first time on Cayman soil. | | | | Reads : 1452 |
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