NYPD's Aviation Unit works as eyes in the sky to help keep NYC safe | Exclusive
NEW YORK (WABC) -- NYPD Aviation Unit officers are on patrol 24 hours a day, seven days a week in efforts that the public never sees.
"Vehicle pursuits and foot pursuits are very dangerous," NYPD Aviation Inspector Ron Ramos said. "If you're chasing after somebody, someone can get seriously hurt, so we minimize the risk on the ground by providing overwatch in the sky."
Overwatch is coordinated from a control room at Floyd Bennet Field using a giant video wall.
"We use a camera called the Imax Ten, it's the latest in technology and it has infrared capabilities, so we're able to see things up close from very far away," Ramos said. "We can spot a pin drop from 2,000 feet up in the sky using these cameras."
The unit has used video to help track a stolen moped, and they were requested by the Coast Guard to evacuate a man from a ship having a medical emergency, and the unit also helped put out a wildfire.
"They're flying back towards the command, they noticed a brush fire," Ramos said. "They immediately radioed into the command and called our air sea rescue. They're able to pick up water and they do a couple of pass throughs and then maybe they do this about five or six times."
Back in February, three men fell into Jamaica Bay walking over ice. NYPD officers jumped from a helicopter to rescue them.
"I mean, that job doesn't come over all the time, but we do water rescues all throughout the summer," Ramos said.
There are seven helicopters in the fleet -- two for search and rescue and five for regular patrol.
"A lot of people are not aware of the help that we provide the department," Ramos said. "You know, policing is a very dangerous job, and we have to find ways to make something very dangerous as safe as possible."
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