I've been up a few times in India55 which is Cleveland's helicopter. That particular force don't use the helicopter for speeding as its not a good use of resources given it cost about £1500 every time it left the ground (this was about three years ago). I highly doubt any force would use this resource for catching speeding vehicles as its just not a good use of public money.
If you spot a chopper copper in advance then you could treat the timing squares like average speed cameras and stop early if that's all they have to go on?
I think they need the squares although it would appear some areas, like Essexs can do it with equipment onboard
Using the Paraffin Budgie for speed enforcement has been in place since the 80's, well at least in my old force area anyway. Until the advent of the professional observer, traffic crews were seconded for a period of time. I really enjoyed the stint I did. As stated the Budgie is fitted with Vascar and measures time over distance either using markings on the road such as the white squares, or in some areas circles painted on the surface, but they can record between any 2 fixed points such as bridges, Matrix or slip roads. There is usually a team down below, the Budgie observer will radio down description, reg no and speed and the road based crew will do the pull and the paperwork. In my area they still do it from time to time but not as frequently as they used to.
Are you serious!! I used to spend around 4 working weeks a year in a low flying helicopter, flying approx 150-200ft above ground level. They are capable of around 130mph flying in a straight line, try averaging that speed on your blade. Also used high definition cameras and military night vision cameras, with fantastic results. Don't ever try out running a helicopter as you've got no chance unless its low on fuel. Normally they can only fly for around 90min on a tank of fuel. Fuel and maintenance cost is in excess of £800 per hour/ plus depreciation and labour cost. They do not cost £15k per hour as mentioned previously in this thread. Hope this clarifies the issue.
Yeah your bang on mate, I have a new colleague just started with us after 30yrs in the force, half of that with traffic! We were talking about a tv show we have up here about our air rescue and that they cover the whole of Scotland,Cumbria and Northen Ireland! He said to use Strathclyde police chopper is £2000 per hour and that's from the minute it leaves the ground till it lands and it's used for armed robbers,car thieft gangs etc not for misbehaving bikers they've got bigger fish to fry and it's all down to cost hence the area the rescue chopper has to cover.
Yes, I knew that before I was writing my "Joke" ! (I have served with the Air Force). Thanks anyway for the detailed information!
ex forces friend said they dont need white marks to speed trap you, a lazer along with the gps can calculate your speed. but he said they are not meant to use it just for speeding as that would be a waste of cash, someone tell that to my local feds as they have it on the biking roads every weekend.
Whilst he is by and large correct, for evidential purposes it is preferred to have 2 fixed points over a measured distance, so that the evidence will state that the speed of the vehicle was measured over a distance of x between point a and point b. Different forces have different policies as to the use of the budgie, some use it only as an immediate response or search vehicle, others use it as a general purpose vehicle (for want of a better description).
