LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

Tracker, data, and UX

• Several comments praise the idea and visualization but report UI issues: ads obscuring the menu, map glitches, and Safari rendering problems.
• The site’s cost-per-hour figure comes from a city controller audit: about $2,916 per flight hour, ~$46.6M/year for the program.

Scale, usage, and community impact

• The audit excerpted in the thread: 17 helicopters, 90+ employees, “nearly continuous” operation, with ~61% of flight time on low‑priority tasks (transport, general patrol, ceremonial flyovers).
• Residents describe frequent overflights, loud noise, houses shaking, and intimidating use of loudspeakers at otherwise non‑violent events; some call it “publicly funded noise‑pollution.”
• Others say helicopters are not always busy: they often loiter in holding patterns between calls.

Cost, priorities, and “waste”

• One side frames the fleet as emblematic police overspending, arguing that tens of millions could instead fund education, social services, or anti‑inequality measures with better safety returns.
• Defenders argue the per‑resident cost is modest, much of it is wages/maintenance that stay local, and helicopters provide real services (tracking suspects, supporting SWAT, some rescue/medical tasks).
• There is disagreement on whether 17 aircraft and ~90 staff are proportionate to LA’s scale.

Drones vs helicopters

• Many propose replacing most helicopter tasks with drones: cheaper to operate, quieter, and less risky if they crash.
• Counterarguments: current drones struggle with range/endurance for long pursuits, can be jammed, may be large enough to be dangerous anyway, and municipal access to military‑grade UAVs is limited.
• A separate concern: a large government drone fleet could normalize pervasive aerial surveillance; some argue the real question is whether this level of air policing is needed at all.

High‑speed pursuits and ROI

• A large subthread debates whether helicopter air support reduces or enables dangerous car chases.
• Supporters claim helicopters let ground units back off, track from above, and coordinate safer interventions.
• Critics cite reports that many pursuits start from minor infractions, cause disproportionate injury to bystanders, and could be replaced by delayed arrests using cameras, GPS tags, or investigative work.
• International commenters note that in many countries chases are heavily restricted; US participants attribute LA’s chase culture partly to media spectacle and US policing culture.