The Los Angeles City Controller’s office released an audit this week detailing how the LAPD spends its budget. As it turns out, the police department’s $3.2 billion annual budget shows some serious overspending, and while the $47 million it spends on helicopters is a mere 1.4 percent of its accounting, that kind of money is more than many city government agencies get for their entire department, including the Department on Disability and the Ethics Commission. And the helicopters are overwhelmingly used for transportation rather than stopping or solving crimes.
The Los Angeles Police Department Air Support Division employs 90 officers and owns 17 helicopters. There are typically two division helicopters in the air flying for around 20 hours per day, every day of the year.
For every hour that an LAPD chopper is in the air, the department is spending $3,000 of taxpayer funds. According to the results of the new audit, officers have flown for a combined 80,687 hours in a five-year period from 2018 to 2022, and only 39 percent of time in the air was dedicated to high-priority property crimes or violent crimes. Most of the time these helicopters were in the air, they were being used as transportation to avoid LA traffic, for “general patrolling” or 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.”
The department’s overuse and inappropriate use of helicopters is awful for the city for more reasons than just budgetary. Every year the LAPD’s helicopters are emitting around 7,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, approximately the same tailpipe emissions as an average gasoline passenger car driving 19 million miles. The report also indicates that these helicopters are overwhelmingly flown over specific communities “when compared to other areas,” which is thinly veiled code for racial profiling. The audit also mentions that the the extra sound pollution in the city isn’t so great for the health of its residents. It’s a small thing, but it’s true.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore issued a statement as a follow-up to the audit’s results:
“I believe the Air Support Division’s activities play a critical role in our public safety mission here in Los Angeles,” he said. “Their flights frequently result in their arrival at calls for service ahead of our patrols aiding responding officers with critical information and situational awareness. Air support also provides added patrols to detect and prevent crimes including residential burglaries while also responding to officers’ assistance calls involving violent and highly dangerous situations.”