North Midlands Police

When I arrived at the North Midlands Police Helicopter Support Unit, they had just had news of an attack on the Liverpool police helicopter at RAF Woodvale. The police had given chase and apprehended three of the four suspects. In this case no major damage was done and the villains were caught, but this is part of a growing trend of criminal destruction of helicopters. Here in the UK there have been three incidents, including one where a police helicopter was fire bombed, and in Brazil the Rio de Janeiro police helicopter was shot down by drug traffickers.

“The truth is,” explains Chief Pilot Andy Mortimore, “it shows how effective the helicopter has become at preventing and detecting crime, and how much the criminals feel that that is so.”

This sentiment was echoed by Ian Worthington, a police observer, who came close to being blinded by a laser shone at the helicopter by (rather surprisingly) a middle-aged woman.....