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What's up with the chopper? >> Montreal's sentinel of the skies raises questions about police presence in the Plateau by SARAH MUSGRAVE >>>> Sidebar: Full Torque Ahead
Many Plateau dwellers are disturbed by the presence of an all-seeing dragonfly hovering over their homes, often waking them up at night. Resident K.C. Wurbin says he has observed the chopper near his apartment building on numerous occasions. "Am I living in Compton? I hear the chopper and I look out my window and expect to see an armed militia running down the streets," he commented. "It's a disturbance of the peace--it definitely disturbs my peace."
Chief Inspector Richard Carlisle, who oversees the MUC Police's specialized services, says the chopper is an important tool to create better security for the community. "It's not a game up there," says Carlisle. "We're well aware of the noise factor. I've seen the complaints--'They have a toy and they're using it to play with.' People should understand it's for police operations, with a qualified pilot who's put in 4,000 hours of flight time."
Leased through an agreement with the RCMP, the chopper makes its rounds Thursday through Sunday nights on alternate weeks, patrolling the city from east to west. According to Carlisle, air patrol is worth eight cars on the ground, allowing the force to speed up their response time, track down suspects fleeing from the scene of a crime and ensure better control of unruly crowds.
The department is apparently doing its best to minimize the effect on the public. The chopper usually flies at 1,000 feet, unless responding to an emergency call. However, factors like cloud cover and nearby buildings can make it sound closer than it is. As for the constant circling inciting panic in residents rather than calming crowds on the street, Carlisle doesn't buy it.
"I don't know if it scares people. I mean, there are no armaments on board. It's not an army helicopter--it's not an Apache!" he says.
L.A. sure, but Montreal?
The helicopter is perhaps the most visible (and certainly most audible) symbol of police presence in the city these days, appearing on the heels of a move to community policing--which, ironically, was designed to encourage closer links between residents and the neighbourhood bobby. Montreal is the only city in Canada besides Calgary to have a regular air patrol. Not surprisingly, the U.S. leads the way with 125 police departments using similar surveillance vehicles.
In addition to the disconcerting noise it creates, resident Wurbin questions whether Montreal really needs a police helicopter on patrol. "We've managed to get along for 350 years with a pretty low murder and crime rate in Montreal. What has expedited the need for a helicopter all of a sudden? What has changed?" he asks.
Carlisle insists the MUC is lucky to have a deal on the chopper, which costs $600 per hour of flight time plus the pilot's salary. If it weren't for the deal with the RCMP, the department's budget would never allow for routine aerial surveillance.
"You could have a helicopter sitting on the ground. But you can't just turn the key and take off. It takes about 10 minutes before it can safely fly. It's not like in the movies where it all looks great," he says. Once airborne, the chopper takes only 10 minutes to fly from one end of the island to the other, allowing it to arrive on the scene within the first crucial minutes of a call. So far this year, 119 calls were covered during 66 hours of patrol time, resulting in 25 people arrested or investigated.
Nevertheless, Carlisle readily admits it's impossible to tell if the helicopter has had an effect on the crime rate, which had already been on a downward swing.
High-altitude gadgetry
If people are noticing the chopper more these days, Carlisle says it's just been a busy summer for the Plateau, what with the St-Jean Baptiste riots and World Cup soccer fans in the streets. To this end, the vehicle is equipped with an infrared camera and a powerful searchlight. Appropriately called the NITESUN, the floodlight has the power of 30 million candles, which can instantly transform a street from midnight into midday.
"There's a lot of psychology in using the chopper. It's like, 'The light's on me!' The perpetrators think they might be identified," he explains.
Wurbin remembers the presence of the chopper last month all too well, and argues that it may do more harm than good. "It has created further divisions between the police and the populace. It really engenders a feeling of being watched, and that doesn't make you feel better about the police. It makes you feel like you're living in a military zone."
More insidious is the FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared), capable of detecting 0.2 degree differences in temperature. "It registers ambient temperature--the air--and anything else that's out there. It can even pick out a cat walking along. But a person doesn't know the thing is on them because the eye doesn't pick up that spectrum of light," Carlisle says. He points out that because the FLIR is so sensitive, it's most useful in industrial areas where it searches for movement on rooftops which might indicate a possible break-in--as opposed to tracking people in high-density areas like the Plateau.
At least one fear can be laid to rest: the FLIR cannot see through walls. In fact, the image on the video screen looks like it belongs in a cheap cop show on TV.
Residential neighbourhoods like Plateau Mont-Royal are not under routine surveillance, according to Carlisle. "There are too many people and cars around. How could you identify anyone? We wouldn't even go there in the chopper for a break and entry or a car theft because there would be no point. It is better handled on the ground."
However, the chopper has been scanning the east side of Mount Royal recently, searching for campfires. "Are we going to leave these people on the mountain lighting fires, especially during a dry spell? It has got to be brought under control," he says.
Add that to its spyrographic holding pattern over World Cup festivities last weekend and it's no wonder residents are beginning to feel the Plateau is under siege. Either by criminals, police, or both.
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When the MUC's new chopper started its regular patrols last September, then-police chief Jacques Duchesneau touted the "sentinel of the air" as a way to beef up police efficiency on weekends. Recently, however, many residents of the Plateau have started to feel like they're being watched. In the last few weeks the MUC has received about 20 complaints about the whirring overhead.