First Watch

From a temporary base at QPS’s Gold Coast Water Police headquarters at Main Beach near Sea World, the trial of the newly formed Helicopter Support Unit pushed into nine months, completing 560 flying hours and responding to 1,550 tasks.

“Being brand new we had some support from interstate police units and the Army who had come up to assist us with learning basic avionics operation and law enforcement tactics,” said Senior Sergeant Ben Nielsen, senior planning officer with South Eastern Region’s Major Events Group and planning coordinator for QPS’s Helicopter Support Unit. “We held a selection course and four officers were selected and seconded to the new unit. They took it on as a passion, maintaining it all the way through and learning as they went. ” The trial’s success saw in mid- 2012 the state government issue a tender for a new, 18-month contract for a permanent helicopter to be based on the Gold Coast. Surf Life Saving Queensland (SLSQ), operators of the Westpac Life Saver Helicopter Rescue Service for the past 37 years on the Gold and Sunshine coasts, won the contract and initially used its BO105 CBS- 5 ‘Super 5’, bought to replace its Sunshine Coast-based AS350 BA Squirrel, VH-ELR, for surf life saving life guard patrols.

Becoming a reality

A dedicated aerial surveillance platform for policing in Queensland became reality on August 14 2012 when the Helicopter Support Unit, attached to QPS’s South Eastern Region’s Major Events Group, became airborne for duty with a ‘new’ Polair 1.

From SLSQ’s Carrara base, a short flight from downtown Surfers Paradise, two Tactical Flight Officers (TFO) fly in the roles of mission commander seated in the front with a SLSQ pilot, and sensor operator seated in the back to control the military-grade FLIR Systems Star Sapphire high definition surveillance camera.

“The BO105 is a great fitfor- purpose machine for aerial observation from a law enforcement perspective,” said Senior Sergeant Nielsen. “We’re the ‘eyes in the sky’ for the officers on the ground.

Anecdotally, they feel safer during a pursuit or a bust knowing that we have eyes on them from above. ” During a vehicle pursuit Nielsen says the helicopter negates the need for highway patrol cars to actively pursue in close quarters. “We can follow from a safe distance, help with setting up cordons and track the offender if they decamp from the vehicle to apprehend them in a safer location. This leads to added community safety and its just one example where we found a benefit from the helicopter. ”

Super 5

With the award of the QPS contract, SLSQ acquired two additional BO105 CBS-5 Super 5s, one rebuilt as a dedicated QPS machine and the other as a ‘spare parts’ source allowing engineers ready access to spares.

“The Super 5s were from an amazing pedigree and were in immaculate condition,” said Peter

We can follow from a safe distance, help with setting up cordons and track the offender. SNR SGT NIELSEN

Bird, SLSQ’s chief pilot. “All of our Super 5s were from a pool of 16 ex-German police machines that had been operating since new under a ‘power by the hour’ contract with the then Eurocopter. We rebuilt VH-NVI from the ground up, painted it in blue and white police colours and it’s now Polair 1 here on the Gold Coast. ” Engineers from Heli-Buzz Aviation refitted VH-NVI – the second-last BO105 built – with a comprehensive suite of avionics, communications and ancillary equipment for its policing role, including a Garmin G500H primary flight display linked to a Garmin GTN-650 GPS/nav/com system, Garmin Helicopter Synthetic Vision Technology, a Harris touch screen radio suite, TCAS, H-TAWS, a Power Sonix PSAIR22 public address loudspeaker and a Trakkabeam A800 searchlight.

“We built the aircraft into being more of a scud runner rather than an IFR machine because we just don’t need that ability,” said Bird.

“We’re always fly under the weather, and not in it, for both Surf and QPSwork. Having said that, all our aircraft have synthetic vision which paints a picture for the pilots to see where all the hills are, it’s there if we need it. ” What makes the BO105 ‘super’ is its CAT A ability. “We could fly around easily on one engine if needed,” said Bird. “I’m endorsed on 14 different types of helicopters and the 105 is a little ‘pocket rocket’. By far it would be my favorite machine hands down. They are a very stable machine and are perfectly suited for what we do. ”

A second helicopter

Polair 1 accumulated 1,965 flying hours while responding to 4,889 taskings during its contract period.

To meet an election promise, the state government committed to extend the police helicopter’s operation on the Gold Coast for a further three years and to base a second helicopter in Brisbane. SLSQ was again successful in winning this new tender, with the new QPS contract starting on July 5 this year.

For the provision of a second QPS helicopter, Heli-Buzz’s engineers reassembled SLSQ’s ‘spare parts’ BO105, completing the type’s 12-yearly inspection to create what would become ‘Polair 2’, VH-NVK.

Configured with identical systems and equipment to VHNVI, Polair 2 is attached to the Public Safety Response Team operating from a hangar at Brisbane’s Archerfield Airport, south-west of the city’s CBD.

“On the Gold Coast it’s quite easy operating from there in terms of airspace and the other traffic that’s around, but in Brisbane it really is another kettle of fish,” said Sergeant Dan Butler, a TFO on Polair 2. “It can be a little problematic operating in Brisbane as we’ve got a major international airport, the RAAF Base at Amberley, some military zonesabout the place, even just getting in and out of Archerfield can be rather busy at times. It’s not a case of just being able to go wherever we want whenever we want, it’s very much a coordinated response. ” Polair 2’s crew have developed a good relationship with Airservices controllers in Brisbane. “They have been very accommodating in trying to get us to where we need to be,” said Sergeant Butler. “Down on the coast ideally you would be operating between 2,500ft and 3,500ft, whereas we are more dictated in what altitudes we can get rather what altitudes we would choose. But that’s the nature of the business in Brisbane. ” Polair 2 operates as far west as Toowoomba, north to the Sunshine Coast and can go further afield if tasked. There is no fixed boundary between the Brisbane and Gold Coast operations, but each uses the Logan Motorway as a general guide to delineate areas of response. If onehelicopter has ownership of a task, which crosses the ‘boundary’, then the crew maintains the ownership and continues with the mission.

Under the QPS contract each helicopter is on standby for 40 hours per week with 20 hours of flying time in the period. In the event of any significant callouts pilots and TFOs at both bases remain on call 24 hours a day, seven days per week. The 20 hours of weekly flying is shared across proactive and reactive taskings.

For proactive missions, QPS units can apply for helicopter support either for thermal imaging, surveillance or general patrols of crime hot spots.

Reactively, crews listen to police radio communications and monitor jobs as they appear on the computer, identifying any they could respond to.

“We’ve been on the coast operating for almost three years now and the value of the helicopter’s capability is evident,” said Nielsen. “There are now more people calling for the helicopter. It’s a unique problem for us, as we are wanted in many places. We now have to prioritise our taskings sometimes, but it’s a good problem to have. ” The helicopters are not just used for the ‘big’ jobs, the unit is realising the benefits of a helicopter on the smaller jobs too.

“If we had a (car) hoon down at Jacobs Well, it would take a ground crew about 30 minutes to get there from the station, deal with the situation and then it’s another 30 minutes to return,” said Senior Sergeant Nielsen. “This ties up a patrol car and two officers for more than hour. We can get airborne in a few minutes, fly down there very quickly, obtain evidential quality footage that links persons and vehicles to the location for later investigation, before returning to the base. We can do this in under 30 minutes. ”

Technology from above

Polair 1 and 2 regularly operate at a standoff altitude, sometimes as high as 8,000ft, using the camera’s powerful zoom lens to full affect.

“The helicopter is a great overt platform but it also has a covert capability as well,” said Senior Sergeant Nielsen. “When we want to, we certainly have the ability to be visually and audibly out of range of our target. ” The camera is the unarmed helicopter’s most powerful weapon. With its 120x zoom the camera’s operator can view a vehicle registration plate from several kilometres away, all without the offender even knowing they have been busted.

When footage from the helicopter is presented as evidence in court pleas can change pretty quickly to guilty.

“The better the quality of footage, the better the evidentiary value in terms of identification of vehicle registration plates and distinguishing features,” said Senior Sergeant Nielsen. “The provisionof footage can often negate the need for lengthy and costly court proceedings. ” The camera can downlink the footage, streaming the live feed directly into the control rooms of QPS’s headquarters in Brisbane.

The video downlinking capability allows tactical commanders and supervisors to get real-time footage of incidents and events. Able to be slaved to the Trakkabeam searchlight for night operations, the camera is also linked to a Logimap street mapping display mounted in front of the mission commander.

Well before the helicopter arrives on scene the camera can lock on to a street address allowing the TFOs to start their observation of a potential situation while en route.

The camera head includes a lowpowered laser designator pointer which the crew finds useful to identify ‘targets’ at night when they are operating on NVGs.

“This allows us to reduce a cordon down to just a small area as we can point to where an offender may behiding for the ground crews using a monocular NVG to see,” said Senior Sergeant Nielsen. “The searchlight also has an IR filter which can light up the ground when we’re on NVGs without the offender knowing. ” A rather effective yet ‘basic’ piece of equipment installed on the helicopters is the Power Sonix PA loud speaker. Able to amplify remarkably clear audio to the ground from as high as 2,000ft, the speaker has already proven effective during a number of missing people searches.

“The speaker is a really good tool to have in the box if we need it, and when we have the results have been impressive,” said Senior Sergeant Nielsen. “A three-year-old boy went missing in the Waterford West area and we flew over neighboring streets from where he was last seen broadcasting a description of him and what he was wearing. We had people coming out of their houses to assist in the search. It was reallygratifying to see the people go knocking on doors and looking everywhere for him. To rally this support on the ground with relative ease is a great asset for us to have. ” For the sensor operator sitting in the back there is constant manipulation of the controls to follow a target, zooming in to get a registration number, interpreting thermal imaging or gathering some evidentiary provision. Add to this the constant disorientation from their intensive focus on the screen while ensuring they have the vehicle or suspect in picture, and the sensor operator is faced with a high workload environment.

The camera’s infrared ‘night vision’ capability is about interpreting heat sources, which Senior Sergeant Nielsen says can that take time for a TFO to master.

“It’s something completely unique to our policing, and to their credit they have become experts at it. We have seen some offenders hosing themselves down in an attempt to cool their body temperature to avoid detection by the thermal camera. It just doesn’t work. ” The mission commander’s workload up front, managing five radio channels, directing the pilot, confirming tactical orbits and talking with the ground troops, is just as demanding. While an aviation background is a benefit, it’s the policing and observation skills that are critical for a budding TFO.

“We really have a good mix of policing skills in the crew,” said Senior Sergeant Nielsen. “Some are experienced in road policing matters, some have an investigative background and they’re also from the water police. We’re finding more ways to use their developing skills, which is a real bonus. ” From a pilot’s perspective, it’s about flying the camera. “The flying we’re doing with the policeis all left hand turns and we need to keep them in full view of what they might be tracking on the ground,” explained Bird. “It’s similar to flying for a live TV broadcast and all our pilots have experience doing aerial photography, which is an art of its own to fly an aircraft to be able to fly the camera to its optimum. ” Running two helicopters with independent sets of crews, SLSQ’s eight pilots are all NVG and instructor-rated with thousands of flying hours who rotate between flying surf rescue and police operations. Prior to flying police missions, pilots are inducted into QPS’s operations by going on the road to experience first-hand the work of officers on the beat and to better understand their radio language.

“Our pilots are listening to a lot of radios and it’s a huge workload of communications inside the aircraft, especially during multiple taskings,” said Bird. “Understanding what’s happening or is about to happen on the ground means we can be one step ahead of things in the air which can make a huge difference to the operation. ” The QPS contract also nicely complements the non-profit SLSQ’s Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter Rescue Service, which provides around 800 hours a year of aerial patrols and aquatic rescues, free of charge to the public. Alongside its BO105, SLSQ operates an EC135 P2, ‘Lifesaver 5’, VH-NVG, protecting the beaches from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast.

“The funds from the QPS contract are vital to keeping our lifesaving work going 356 days of the year and our twin-engine helicopters in the air,” said Bird. “What QPS stands for is community safety, so we’re very happy to be able to grow and supply helicopters, experienced pilots and the equipment to keep the public safe both in the community

Behaviours can be curbed just from having the helicopter in the air. SNR SGT NIELSEN

and on the beaches. ” On regular patrols the BO105s can be airborne for more than two and a half hours and can cruise up to 125kt fitted with all of its external equipment.

“Without all the gear on they could get up to 132kt, which is quite quick for a little aircraft,” said Bird. “It’s got lots of power, it’s manoeuverable and they are very cost-effective to operate. If we bought bigger, flashier aircraft with all the mod cons, they would not be cost-effective and we’d just end up doing less flying hours for the public. ” With its area of operation abutting the northern New South Wales border, the helicopter unit is also available to provide support for more urgent and time critical requests from the New South Wales Police Force.

“We are all recognised as law enforcement officers in New South Wales and we have a good relationship with their aviation support branch and look to work with them when we can,” said Senior Sergeant Nielsen. “We are lucky to be the new kids on the block and we are very grateful for the assistance given by all the interstate air wings. They have been very accommodating in giving their time and technical skills. They have also been down paths that they can warn us against. ”

Game over

Like many within QPS, Senior Sergeant Nielsen is completely sold on the Helicopter Support Unit as an asset for the police service, admitting it would be difficult to go back to not having a helicopter in its ranks.

“We wouldn’t have been as successful as we have been straight off the bat without the experience of Surf’s pilots. In terms of being able to switch on to what our needs are and what we need to be able to see is just fantastic. ” In just under three months alone, the helicopters combined have flown over 455 hours on more than 1,000 tasks. Interestingly, when a helicopter was involved in a response, an arrest rate of more than 90 per cent was achieved.

“We’ve always made a point of being visible around major events like ‘Schoolies Week’ and the V8 Supercars for example,” said Senior Sergeant Nielsen. “While it is good publicity, it’s also proactive from a policing perspective as behaviours can be curbed just from having the helicopter in the air. Behavioural changes are what we’re looking for – whether the crooks change their tactics because we’re around. We will continue to evolve how we operate and to combat the way the crooks are behaving. ” There is no doubt, once the helicopter’s camera is trained on a speeding vehicle or fleeing offender, it is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ they will be apprehended. For criminals thwarting the law in south-eastern Queensland, if the helicopter is in the air, it really is game over.