An audit of the Los Angeles Police Department's helicopter program raises concerns about environmental and quality of life issues.
City Controller Kenneth Mejia and his staff conducted a first-ever audit of LAPD's airborne operation, the Air Support Division. The audit was conducted in response to calls from the community and some organizations who requested more information regarding the costs and performance of LAPD helicopters.
KNX News’ Margaret Carrero spoke to Sergio Perez, the chief of accountability and oversight with the controller’s office, about the environmental impacts of the helicopter program revealed by the audit.
“You need a lot of fuel to keep two helicopters up in the sky 20 hours a day, 365 days a year,” he said.
According to the controller's office, the helicopters burn approximately 761,000 gallons of fuel per year – about 47.6 gallons per hour – and release approximately 7,427 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Perez said that the audit found that these helicopters are flying below the recommended elevation in L.A.. This can lead to negative health effects on blood pressure and stress levels, he said.
Some of the audit's other findings include the following:
-- LAPD's $46.6 million helicopter program cost more money than 14 city departments' annual budgets;
-- 61% of flight time was dedicated to low-priority incidents, such as transportation, general patrol time, and ceremonial flights;
-- Some of these transportation and ceremonial flights were inefficient and an inappropriate use of city funds, including a passenger shuttle flights for a "Chili Fly-In," a fly-by at a golf tournament, and a roundtrip helicopter transport of two high-ranking LAPD officers from LAPD headquarters in downtown to a meeting at a Harbor Community police station;
-- Helicopters spend a disproportionate amount of time in certain communities when compared to other areas; and
-- LAPD does not have a formal contract with its flight log application vendor, raising ethical, legal and other concerns.
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The audit focused on LAPD's use of helicopters from 2018 through 2022, and explored whether the department has "justified the need for the program's current size and scope, which consists of 17 helicopters and more than 90 employees," according to the controller's office.
The controller's audit found that since there has been no "comprehensive," external audit of the program until now -- inefficiencies, data reliability issues and a lack of transparency and performance monitoring have gone unchecked.
The controller's office provided three recommendations for reducing inefficiencies, improving data collection and management, and boosting transparency and performance monitoring. Perez hopes the LAPD will review the audit and will test its practices.
The LAPD said in an email to KNX that the report is being reviewed, but the department didn’t comment at this time. The city can use the information from the audit as a guideline to make appropriate changes to the helicopter program.
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