National Police Air Service

National Police Air Service
Legal personality Police unit
Jurisdictional structure
National agency England and Wales
Operations jurisdiction England and Wales
National Police Air Service's jurisdiction in the United Kingdom
Headquarters West Yorkshire Police Operations Centre, Wakefield, England.

Website
www.npas.police.uk

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) is a police aviation service that provides centralised air support to the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. It replaced the previous structure whereby police forces operated their own helicopters, either individually or in small consortia (such as the South East Air Support Unit).[1] The project was coordinated by Alex Marshall (the then Chief Constable of Hampshire Police).[2] West Yorkshire Police is the lead Force[2] and the service is operated from West Yorkshire Police Despatch & Flight Monitoring Centre (D&FMC) based at Wakefield, West Yorkshire.[3]

Criticism

There has been much criticism from serving police officers around the service provided by NPAS since it began operation. This has led to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services inspecting NPAS with its conclusions made public on 30 November 2017. The report was scathing of the service provided and stated the following in its press release:[4]

With the number of bases being halved and the number of aircraft being cut by a third in the last 10 years, savings have primarily been made by cutting the service provided to forces rather than increasing efficiency. An inconsistent service means that many incidents requiring air support are over before a police helicopter can arrive. Moreover, we are concerned that the police service now operates insufficient aircraft to provide a consistently prompt response to incidents in all forces in England and Wales.

History

Rollout

NPAS became operational on 1 October 2012,[5] and was rolled out across England and Wales in stages.[2] The service provides 19 helicopters, operating from 17 bases.[6]

The National Police Air Service has suggested that the Police Scotland Air Support Unit join the service to reduce costs.[7]

Base closures

In February 2015 it was announced that, due to a 14% cut in revenue over the following three years, the NPAS would be closing ten bases over two years. As fixed wing aircraft are cheaper to fly, a new aeroplane base will created. This new fixed wing base is planned for Doncaster Airport.[8]

Fleet

Map of NPAS Bases

See also

References

  1. ↑ "New plans for a national police air service". Association of Chief Police Officers. 26 October 2010. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "Press Release: National Police Air Service is launched". Association of Chief Police Officers. 1 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "NPAS Annual Report 2014 - 2015" (PDF). NPAS. 27 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "National Police Air Service needs urgent reform". HMICFRS. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  5. ↑ "New police air service takes off". BBC News Online. 1 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "NPAS Aircraft FAQs | NPAS". www.npas.police.uk. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  7. ↑ PROTECT - CONTRACTS, Scottish Police Authority.
  8. ↑ NPAS
  9. 1 2 3 Drwiega Air International October 2015, p. 126.
  • Drwiega, Andrew (October 2015). "Police Aviation's Transformation". Air International. Vol. 89 no. 4. pp. 126–127. ISSN 0306-5634.
  • National Police Air Service (NPAS) Briefing – March 2011, National Policing Improvement Agency
  • National Police Air Service (NPAS) website
  • "NPAS Now" (PDF). Police Aviation News. December 2013. pp. 9–12.
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