STOCKTON, Calif. — It's the first of its kind in Stockton Police Department history. The Falcon One Zero, Bell 505 Jet Ranger X helicopter has been in the air above the city since June 24.
The cost? Approximately $3 million from funding secured in last year's state budget by local state lawmakers Senator Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) and Assembly Member Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton).
"I believe this aircraft is an absolute gamechanger in reducing crime, violent crime in our community," said Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones.
Jones said Stockton is the last metropolitan area of its size in California to get a police helicopter. It will fly four days a week, sometimes to specific incidents, other times it will simply patrol high-crime neighborhoods.
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Officials said it will be used to assist officers on the ground with traffic stops, searching for suspects and more. Already it has assisted in pinpointing a stolen car and a suspect on the run.
"Getting from call to call, we're always, almost every single time we're the first unit on scene," said Stockton Police Helicopter pilot Dan Lowry.
Lowry is a Marine Corp veteran and former combat chopper pilot with dozens of missions in the Iraq War.
"The day camera actually has an overlay that will put the street names on the live video as we're flying and actually house numbers and partials," said Lowry pointing to a digital monitor on the inside of the chopper's cockpit.
The helicopter is also equipped with a FLIR or Forward Looking Infrared camera. It can pick up body heat on the ground day or night.
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"We can't see through buildings. We can't see through windows or anything like that, but we can pick up heat sources if someone is hiding in bushes or in tall grass or under a car," said Lowry.
And what about privacy concerns? Jones said his department takes privacy rights very seriously.
"We will not just be doing general surveillance over certain populations. We may be doing patrol. We may be responding to a specific crime, but we're not going to violate privacy or look into areas where someone should have an expectation of privacy, unless there's an active crime incident that makes it an urgency, then that's different. But, it has to be justifiable," said Jones.
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