LAPD Helicopters Don't Deter Crime, First-Ever Audit Suggests

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles Police Department's $50 million helicopter program spends more than half its time on low-priority matters and suffers from a widespread lack of oversight, according to what the city controller calls the first-ever comprehensive external audit of the LAPD division.

City Controller Kenneth Mejia on Monday released a report from his office's audit of the LAPD Air Support Division, focusing on the department's use of helicopters from 2018 to 2022 and whether the LAPD has justified the need for the division's size and scope. The LAPD has 17 helicopters and over 90 employees, according to the controller's office.

"Our audit’s findings strongly suggest that the LAPD’s current use of helicopters causes significant harm to the community without meaningful or reliable assessment of the benefits it may or may not deliver," Mejia wrote in a letter to Mayor Karen Bass, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto and the City Council. "Neither our office nor the LAPD can demonstrate that police helicopters actually deter crime in the city."

The audit found there is limited oversight of the division: Inefficiencies have gone unchecked and there's a lack of transparency and performance monitoring. The air division was established in the 1970s; Mejia called his the first-ever "comprehensive" external audit of the program.

Here are some of the findings:

Some 61 percent of flight time was dedicated to low priority matters. That includes routine patrols and transportation flights, like the round-trip transport of two high-ranking LAPD officials from LAPD Headquarters to San Pedro's police station and a six-hour shuttle flight for a so-called Chili Fly-In, according to the audit.

Helicopter patrols ignore best practices for mitigating nuisance noise by flying closer to the ground than generally recommended, according to the audit.

The helicopters burn 761,600 gallons of fuel and release approximately 7,427 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year — equivalent to over 19 million miles driven by gas-powered passenger vehicles, according to the audit.

In a statement, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the department received the audit Monday and will review it closely.

"I believe the Air Support Division's activities play a critical role in our public safety mission here in Los Angeles," Moore 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."

He added, "We will review the controller's office recommendations as the department continuously strives to identify improvements that can be made."

You can read a summary of the audit's findings as well as the complete report at the city controller's website.

City News Service contributed to this report.