The NSW Police Force now operates the newest fleet of police helicopters in the Southern Hemisphere following the Government\u2019s investment in three new Bell 429 helicopters.
\nNSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott joined NSW Police Commissioner Michael Fuller APM and the Member for East Hills Wendy Lindsay today to unveil the three new light helicopters at a commissioning ceremony at the Police Aviation Command in Bankstown.
\nThe three additional light helicopters bring the current Aviation Command fleet to eight aircraft, with two Bell 412 helicopters and three Cessna Caravan fixed-wing aircraft, and were funded by the NSW Government $50 million Future Light Helicopter Program.
\nPolAir helicopters have undertaken 645 search-and-rescue operations locating 157 missing people, and rescuing a further 30 members of the community so far this year.
\nMr Perrottet said the new light helicopter fleet represents a record investment in the State\u2019s aviation law-enforcement capabilities.
\n\u201cThe NSW Government is committed to ensuring the NSW Police Force has the world-leading resources and equipment to keep our communities safe across the entire state,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe know that these aviation resources are a vital component to our policing responses, and I am confident that PolAir 1, 3 and 4 will play a critical role in our future operations.\u201d
\nMr Elliott said the NSW Police Force Aviation Command is one of the most experienced and capable law-enforcement aviation agencies in the world.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve all seen the important work of the Police Aviation Command in recent weeks after a PolAir crew found three-year-old \u2018AJ\u2019 who\u2019d been missing from his family farm in Putty for 72 hours,\u201d Mr Elliott said.
\n\u201cOnly five days earlier, we saw a PolAir crew rescue a 15-year-old girl after she was thrown into the water of the Nepean River and washed into an inaccessible part where debris from recent floods had formed an island of logs trapped in a bottleneck of fast-flowing water.
\n\u201cLand crews had been unable to reach her and the teen had been in the cold waters of the Nepean River for up to two hours when the helicopter crew sighted her, clinging to a semi-submerged log.
\n\u201cThe Polair crew member was winched down to the river and swam to the girl, securing her into the harness before they were both winched back to the safety of the helicopter.\u201d
\nCommissioner Fuller said each helicopter had been purpose-built to policing specifications.
\n\u201cThe Bell 429 helicopters have been specifically designed and fitted with the best technology available to carry out search and rescue operations, conduct aerial patrols and surveillance operations,\u201d Commissioner Fuller said.
\n\u201cEach one has been customised with the most sophisticated equipment, including a FLIR camera system, advanced mapping systems, tactical radio and rescue hoist winch.
\nOther important features of the Bell 429 helicopters include a high-powered controllable search light \u2018Trakka beam\u2019, video downlinking for real time situational awareness and a public address system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The NSW Police Force now operates the newest fleet of police helicopters in the Southern Hemisphere following the Government\u2019s investment in three new Bell 429 helicopters. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott joined NSW Police Commissioner Michael Fuller APM and the Member for East Hills Wendy Lindsay today … Continue reading “New Police helicopters to keep the community safe”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}