City police searching for new helicopter as parts for Air1 hard to find

Winnipeg Police Service is shopping for a new helicopter, with plans to retire the aging aircraft it has now.

The service began operating Air1, its first chopper, in early 2011 and replacement parts are hard to find.

“It is beginning to reach end of life,” said Brian Miln, WPS superintendent of operational support.

”Parts are becoming increasingly difficult for us to get our hands on. So, we do not want to be in a position where we have the failure of a significant part because our lead times on some of these parts are closing in on six months, all the way up to a year.”

Miln said there’s a growing risk the current helicopter could wind up grounded for an extended period of time awaiting a repair.

“As time passes, that risk, for sure, increases,” he said, noting WPS has already had to obtain some parts from other law enforcement agencies.

More than a decade after it first began operating the helicopter, WPS credits the aircraft for safely ending high-speed chases, finding missing people and helping locate potentially dangerous suspects.

“The helicopter’s probably, in my opinion, one of the most critical assets that the police service operates,” Miln said. “In terms of value for the dollar… last year the entire budget to operate… was just over $2 million. But what that money delivers, it’s not comparable really to anything else.”

In a recent report, WPS notes the helicopter can travel from one side of the city to the other in “a matter of minutes,” allowing “eyes” on active events from up to 15 kilometres away.

The exact price to lease a new chopper will depend on bids for the contract. However, a tendering document states lease options “must not exceed” a $300,000 down payment or a “maximum payment structure” of $900,000 per year.

Tendering documents note police are looking to lease a new helicopter with a searchlight, evidence recorder and thermal-imaging cameras.

WPS purchased its helicopter for $3.5 million in 2010.

However, not everyone is convinced the model should be replaced with a newer one.

“Buying a helicopter is not going to solve our crime problem in this city,” said Abdikheir Ahmed, co-chair of the Police Accountability Coalition.

“Our crime problem in this city is going to be solved by building relationships with the community and using those resources to address issues at the root sources of crime, rather than doing Band-Aid things (like) having a helicopter jump from one side of the city to the other.”

Ahmed said funding for social supports, such as before and after school programs, would be a better investment than replacing the helicopter.

“Can you imagine $2 million a year that you use to support crime-prevention efforts with the community, building relationships in the North End, how much (that would) resolve?” he said.

Miln said the service may or may not buy the new chopper after its lease ends, depending on how it has performed, and how technology has changed, by that point.

He expects a new chopper will take about 12 to 18 months to arrive, once it is ordered. The current helicopter will be grounded when the new one arrives, then sold off whole or in parts, he said.

Winnipeg Police Board chairman Markus Chambers could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

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