The Columbus Division of Police is starting to replace its aging helicopter fleet and get back up to five working choppers, starting with two new aircraft this year that officials say will be more advanced and able to fly higher — making them quieter.
Columbus police Deputy Chief Robert Sagle said helicopters are a vital “force multiplier,” and currently, their newest helicopter is from 2012, and their oldest is from 2006.
“This is comparable to trying to function efficiently in 2025 using an iPhone 3,” said Sagle, who oversees the unit and formerly flew as a pilot.
The Columbus City Council agreed with the assessment, voting unanimously 9-0 at its meeting on June 23 to purchase two Bell 505 helicopters for just under $6 million.
Sagle said the police have a 10-year plan to replace the fleet with a new kind of helicopter. The police division says it intends to sell one of its four MD530F helicopters, the 2006 model, when the new ones arrive, estimated sometime in December. This would mean that for the first time in several years, Columbus police will have five operational helicopters instead of four.
Councilmember Emmanuel Remy, chair of the Public Safety Committee, said the helicopters are used for a variety of purposes, including pursuing suspects and locating high-risk missing people. As one example, police helicopters assisted the city Division of Fire in monitoring the tanker truck fire that happened on June 22 on Columbus’ Northeast Side, Remy said.
“These upgrades aren’t about expanding surveillance; they are about ensuring safer, more reliable, less disruptive operations for both officers and residents they serve,” Remy said.
The helicopter unit has faced extra scrutiny from residents since the 2020 protests that called for police reform in the wake of George Floyd Jr.’s murder on May 25, 2020, by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
In 2020, more than 200 public comments submitted during City Council public hearings on reform complained about the helicopters, including the noise, over-surveillance, a military feel and high operational cost.
The helicopters need a lot of maintenance, and one is in the shop at all times, Sagel said. The 2025 budget to maintain the helicopter fleet is $1.4 million and $400,000 to fuel them, according to the Department of Public Safety. The helicopter unit has 21 pilots.
Past council members Elizabeth Brown and Shayla Favor advocated in 2020 and 2021 for reducing the city’s helicopter fleet size to four. But both women have left the council; Brown is now president and CEO of the Columbus YWCA, and Favor is the Franklin County Prosecutor.
Remy said Police Chief Elaine Bryant has committed to keeping the helicopter fleet at five aircraft.
Council President Pro Tempore Rob Dorans, who previously supported limiting the fleet size, said residents have complained less since the helicopter unit changed its approach in recent years. That includes reducing the number of helicopters in the air when they’re not needed and flying less over residential neighborhoods.
First Assistant Chief Lashanna Potts told the council that it has taken the division multiple years to build a plan for the helicopter unit because leadership feels strongly about residents’ concerns.
The ordinance to purchase the helicopters was passed as an emergency, meaning the council bypassed the first reading of the legislation and the 30-day waiting period before voting.
Glenn McEntyre, assistant director of the Department of Public Safety, said buying now allows the city to lock in 2024 prices versus 2026 prices, a cost savings of about $800,000, and secures the helicopters’ delivery sooner.
Columbus has not purchased a new helicopter that it was able to put into service since 2012. In 2020, under a previous chief of police, the city bought a Bell 407GXi helicopter for $3.4 million and prepared to shift from exclusively flying MD530F helicopters. However, that helicopter did not come equipped with the necessary technology like search lights, computer mapping and night-vision cameras.
Ultimately, the city sold that new helicopter for $4.2 million. McEntyre said when the city first purchased the Bell 407GXi, it was the most comparable model to the MD530F in the Bell lineup.
“After the delivery of the 407GXi, we had numerous discussions with concerned members of city council and the community as we were seeking funds to purchase new technology for the aircraft,” McEntyre said. “Many of the concerns were around additional noise pollution and the overall cost of the operations. In the meantime, Bell began production of the Bell 505, which is significantly smaller than the 407GXi and much more comparable to our current aircraft in size and performance.”
Sagle said these new helicopters will come fully equipped.
This story was updated based on the Columbus City Council’s actions at the meeting.
Government and politics reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus City Council approves nearly $6M for the purchase of two new police helicopters
Reporting by Jordan Laird, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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