RIGONOMICS:

It is understandable that with the slower economy, Costa Mesa is looking for budget cuts to balance the city’s budget. For a point of reference let me lay out some basic facts about all the law enforcement helicopters in the county first, and then talk about Newport Beach and Costa Mesa’s AirBorne Law Enforcement, also known as “ABLE,” helicopter programs.

Here are the basics: There are a total of 12 law enforcement helicopters in Orange County. Of the 34 cities in Orange County, only four have their own helicopters. Anaheim has three, Huntington Beach has three, and Newport Beach and Costa Mesa share three. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which handles all the unincorporated areas and contracts police services to 12 cities, has three helicopters. Eighteen cities choose not to have their own helicopters.

It’s hard to get actual costs, but the ABLE program’s budget, not including the pilots or observers, is about $2.1 million per year, which is split between Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

That budget, among many items, includes three mechanics, fuel, hangar rent and $447,000 set aside each year to rotate in a new helicopter when needed.

The program has nine pilots, which, depending on which city they come from, cost between $160,000 and $235,000 per pilot including benefits but not overtime.

Three of the pilots are officers from the Newport Beach Police Department; five are officers from the Costa Mesa Police Department; and one is an officer with the Santa Ana Police Department.

Each city pays for its respective personnel. In addition, there are eight sworn officers, who are called observers, who go on each flight. Newport Beach pays for three, Santa Ana pays for two, and Costa Mesa has three who are brought on only as needed.

Santa Ana, though not a partner in the program, agrees as part of its contract with the program to supply one pilot, two police officers as observers and pay $245,000 per year for 54 minutes a day of actual flight time in their city. Santa Ana uses its 54 minutes a day responding to specific calls.

When the helicopter is not on any specific call, it patrols both Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

Irvine, which is not part of the program, pays $307.42 for the first 15-minute increment of actual flight time and $20.49 per minute after that.

I come from a law enforcement family. My father was a retired deputy sheriff, and my brother is a police officer, but I am no expert on what the actual value of a helicopter program is to law enforcement. I cannot tell you what the value of a “force multiplier” or “aerial presence” is worth.

What I can say is that of the 22 cities in the county that are not patrolled by the county sheriff, only four cities have law enforcement helicopters. For some reason they choose not to have an aerial presence. Two of the cities that do not have a program, neighboring Santa Ana and Irvine, choose to use our helicopters.

The reason is simple. They pay for only the actual time they use the helicopter for a specific call; we pay for the rest, regardless of whether the helicopter is in the air or grounded for weather.

In 2008 the ABLE program had 5,256 calls for service and 45 vehicle pursuits. The problem is we have not been told what percentage of calls came from what city. If we knew that 20% of the calls came from one city that was not an ABLE member, you might think they should pick up 20% of the cost.

Maybe it is time that the cities that use our helicopters become full members of ABLE and pay their full cost of having helicopters available to them and not just when they need it.

Newport Beach and Costa Mesa should not be subsidizing other cities, especially one like Irvine that can afford to build a $1.6-billion “Great Park.”

JIM RIGHEIMER is a Costa Mesa planning commissioner, a local developer and a GOP activist. He may be reached at [email protected].