The Los Angeles Police Department spends an average of $46.6 million each year to fly its helicopters over the city, according to an audit released Monday by the L.A. City Controller’s Office.
That’s more than the annual budget for over a dozen L.A. city departments, including the Ethics Commission, the Department of Aging, and the Department on Disability.
With 17 helicopters in the LAPD Air Support Division’s fleet, each hour in the sky costs nearly $3,000, according to the audit. However, the audit notes that most of the helicopter flight time from fiscal years 2018 through 2022 weren’t connected to high priority crimes.
What were the helicopters being used for then?
The helicopters flew for a total of 80,687 hours in that five-year period, which is an average of more than 16,000 hours each year.
According to the audit, only 39% of the flight time was dedicated to high-priority incidents, such as burglaries and felony incidents involving personal injury or harm.
The rest of the time was dedicated to transportation flights — in which a helicopter is used instead of a car — general patrol time, and ceremonial flights.
“Some transportation and ceremonial flights were an inefficient, inappropriate use of city funds,” Controller Kenneth Mejia said at a news conference Monday. “Including passenger shuttle flights for a ‘Chili Fly-In,’ and a fly-by at a golf tournament.”
Are the helicopters flying over some areas more than others?
The audit found that LAPD helicopters spent a disproportionate amount of time in certain communities when compared to the levels of crime.
The LAPD areas that experienced more…
Read the full article here
