|
Well here is my personal experience with te WSP planes.
The short version is: I think they provide a valuable function in traffic enforcement and are efficient in doing so.
The long version is:
Damn near got hit by (what later turned out to be) a drunk, I-5 N at the Nisqually Bridge. Bonehead was driving a new mini-cooper (should get a ticket for that alone), was next to me to the left, and out of nowhere swerved into my lane.
I dropped back (and cursed a bit) and watched the dickweed. He was consistently leaning to his right by a full half-lane. After seeing this up to the scales at Pierce/Thurston line, I figured it was worth a call.
WSP call receiver said "let me check with my officers", put me on hold, then came back and said "an officer will call you".
Sure enough, it was an Air unit who identified the vehicle, handed it off to a single ground unit, and had an arrest in approx 5 miles.
I am guessing there was some good video along the way, as this asshat kept leaning to the right the entire time, and each time was riding the middle of the lane divider. It would have been commical, if it wasn't so dangerous.
We read regularly about people being maimed and / or killed by these types, they are all around us, and if we rely on ground units alone we are always pissing up a rope.
I was really impressed with how well these guys worked this incident. The air unit kept me on the line until he had a positive ID on the car, and then he handed it to a waiting patrol car in less than 2 miles from making his ID. He called back about 15 mins later to confirm an arrest was made and thanks for the call.
There is really no way to quantify the value we get from the $$ spent on these units.
But it is a real value, to be sure.
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
