CPD plans to buy two helicopters by end of 2024, but Chicago still lags behind other big cities

The Chicago Police Department plans to buy two helicopters by the end of 2024 to help catch fleeing criminals and respond to emergencies — a far smaller investment in aviation than other big city law enforcement agencies have made, officials said during a City Hall budget meeting Tuesday.

Earlier this year, the department selected fully equipped Bell 407 helicopters for a total of $11.9 million, which includes training for one pilot per helicopter, department officials told the Chicago Sun-Times last month in a written statement.

The helicopters are to “replace an aging fleet and are utilized heavily and successfully in tracking carjackings, robbery cases and various law enforcement operations,” the department said in the statement.

The police department currently owns two operating Bell helicopters, one built in 1994, the other in 2006. The helicopters, shared with the sheriff’s office, are often grounded for maintenance problems and don’t have the navigation equipment to fly in poor weather, officials say.

Last year, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart got the Cook County Board to approve money to buy a helicopter, too. At the time, Dart said he hoped to have the chopper in the air as early as the summer of 2023, but the office still doesn’t have one.

“The helicopter is a top priority for the sheriff’s office as we work to ensure public safety. The office is working closely with staff at the county’s finance, procurement and budget departments to acquire a helicopter as soon as possible,” a Dart spokesman said in a written statement last month.

Police agencies in other big cities like Los Angeles, New York and Houston have large fleets of helicopters.

“It’s impossible to understand how all these other cities have made these investments in an aircraft fleet and are doing much better at confronting the carjacking problem than we are,” Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said during the budget hearing.

Newly appointed police Supt. Larry Snelling said he agreed, noting that helicopters have been useful to the department’s anti-carjacking task force. Chicago police officers are prohibited in most cases from getting into car chases.

The Los Angeles Police Department has 17 helicopters, including 16 single-engine craft and one twin-engine, while at “full capacity,” according to its website, which was updated late last month. 

Injuries and deaths tied to vehicle pursuits are reduced, arrests of fleeing suspects increase and fewer cops have to be stationed at crime scenes when a helicopter is overhead, according to LAPD.

Instead of buying single-engine Bell 407 helicopters, Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said Chicago should consider more expensive twin-engine helicopters that could save money in the long run because they require less maintenance than single-engine choppers. 

O’Shea also criticized former Mayor Lori Lightfoot for “failed leadership” involving police helicopters.

Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) said the police department needs a far bigger aviation fleet: “I don’t think dollars should get in the way of getting multiple helicopters.” 

And Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) suggested plastering ads on police helicopters to defray their cost. “I might even put Walter Burnett on the helicopter if it doesn’t cost too much,” he joked.

The police department has four officers listed as helicopter pilots, according to the city inspector general’s website. Up until last week, the department was accepting applications from other Chicago police officers to become pilots, too.