Why all the Helicopters Overhead: Do we really need Another Police eye-in-the sky? 

Dear Santa Monica Observer: There was an annoying helicopter hovering low above my SM residence for about an hour today.

I assumed it was LAPD so checked SMPD twitter to see if there was any police activity. I was surprised to see no activity, however there was a tweet from SMPD announcing a new SMPD helicopter patrol to provide "situational awareness."

Another tweet complaining about the noise gave the helicopter's call sign as N6605.

I've supplied a link that gives N6605's flight path over SM as well as its flight log. It has apparently been patrolling SM twice a day. I can't discover if N6605 is the helicopter SMPD is using.

Can you shed any light on this? LAPD has two helicopters that fly along the coast of SM multiple times every day. Our computers record everything we do, same with our phones, cars, and our city is loaded with closed circuit cameras. I'm wondering if we need even more daytime surveillance?

Do we really need another eye-in-the sky? 

Gary Davidson, SM Resident

Reply from the SMPD:

Good evening,

Thank you for the email. While the Santa Monica Police Department does not currently have any information about any threats to our community, we are maintaining our increased police department presence throughout the city as well as in the air. We understand that our helicopter may be a bit disconcerting, do know aerial coverage is an invaluable resource to us because it provides us with additional situational awareness and enables us to quickly deploy and manage our field resources.

We will continue to monitor various sources for actionable intelligence associated with our community, but we encourage our community members to keep communicating with us online and via telephone. Our strong relationship with the community is the key to our being able to keep Santa Monica safe.

Please share any tips or information at smtips@santamonica.gov or 310-458-8491. In case of an emergency, please call 9-1-1.

Joseph A. Cortez

Lieutenant

Executive Officer

Office of the Chief of Police

Santa Monica Police Department