To most Hopkins students, it's just the helicopter, a fixture in the Charles Village skies that's as predictable and as loud as the ambulances headed to Union Memorial. Mostly, it seems to fly in circles, blink its searchlight and spook the Friday night drunks. But to the Baltimore City Police Department and the officers on the ground it protects, it's known as Foxtrot -- or, more affectionately, "Fox."
Foxtrot (the odd name comes from the letters on the aircraft's tail) is actually a fleet of four identical helicopters belonging to the Baltimore City Police Aviation Unit. These American Eurocopter EC120Bs are based at Martin State Airport, two miles east of Baltimore. While one flies, another stands by on the ground. A third is kept in reserve, and the fourth is usually being maintained.
Up close, the four helicopters look like something out of Star Trek. The EC120Bs carry high-powered video cameras and heat-sensing Forward-Looking InfraRed units, which can track a hidden suspect or find a gun that's just been fired. Foxtrot navigates with GPS maps so advanced, pilots know who lives at the address below the helicopter. Foxtrot also carries a LoJack device to work with undercover detectives to track car thieves by air, avoiding dangerous, high-speed car chases.
But Foxtrot's most visible feature is its spotlight. Between 15 and 60 million candlepower, these searchlights are 200,000 times stronger than an ordinary light bulb. Searchlights allow Foxtrot to conduct search and rescue operations, track fleeing suspects and break up drug activity on street corners. The helicopters also perform homeland security tasks, patrolling possible targets in the Baltimore area.
One dramatic yet relatively obscure success for Foxtrot occurred in the fall of 2002. During their three-week killing spree, the D.C. snipers, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, actually came to Baltimore. They stopped at a gas station on Remington Avenue, a few blocks from the Hopkins campus.
According to Malvo's confession, he was preparing to shoot a pregnant woman when something changed his mind. It was Foxtrot. The low-flying helicopter convinced the sniper he was under surveillance, and he backed off.
A Baltimore police officer then stopped them, and his description of the vehicle later led to the snipers' arrest.
When Malvo assumed Foxtrot was watching, he was probably right. The helicopter crews include three officers, a pilot and two observers. These are experienced patrol officers, according to Sgt. Tom Poffenbarger, the acting commander of the Aviation Unit. "They know, looking at a corner, if you have drug activity. They know the workings of the street. They're just 500 feet above it," he said.
Over Charles Village, for example, Foxtrot patrols high-crime areas, such as the park below Art Museum Drive. The flight officers also work to deter break-ins before they happen. "We look for guys with shopping carts in alleys," said Poffenbarger.
Police officers have been flying over Baltimore since 1970, but Foxtrot's 35-year history has not been perfect. In 1992, a crash caused by faulty contractor maintenance injured two officers.
Still, Foxtrot stayed in the air until 1998, when a second crash killed Officer Barry Wood and grounded the program. The investigation found that the helicopter's engine had been installed by non-union labor.
Between 1998 and 2001, Foxtrot did not operate.
After that, city officials were able to raise $11.2 million to resurrect Foxtrot. They bought a hangar at Martin Airport, installed a maintenance facility, and along with $6.3 million in replacement parts, purchased four new EC120Bs. The new aircraft were bigger, faster and safer. And city employees would maintain them, so there were no more contractors.
However, some still question whether expensive helicopters are necessary in a city where almost 25 percent of citizens live below the poverty line.
The Airborne Law Enforcement Association (ALEA), a nonprofit that promotes police aircraft, responds to such concerns on its Web site. "One of the first questions asked is, 'Can we afford it?' But the question that should be asked is, 'Can we afford not to?'"
ALEA points out that lawsuits brought after police accidents often cost much more than the helicopters which could have prevented them.
High-speed police chases frequently cause serious property damage and injury to innocent bystanders.
Cost-effectiveness and safety are paramount to Foxtrot. The maintenance facility has been designated as an FAA Repair Center. According to Avionics Technician August Walter, a three-year veteran of the Foxtrot team, this "allows us to do deeper maintenance instead of farming it out."
Commercial upgrades to the microwave units, for example, would have cost the city around $80,000 and required the helicopters be sent as far as Tennessee.
Foxtrot's maintenance crew was able to do it themselves, at no additional cost. As Walter said, "Our comfort level saves the city money."
Why haven't Foxtrot's successes, such as the one against the sniper, been better publicized? Poffenbarger shrugs. "We don't like to toot our own horn."
