Spokane County police looking for extra help to keep pursuit-by-air going
(The Center Square) – The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Air Support Unit has an open position for a part time helicopter mechanic.
“Are you passionate about helicopter repair and maintenance and looking for part-time work?” asked the office in a news release.
If so, “The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Air Support Unit (ASU) is hiring for the position of Helicopter Mechanic. This is a part-time (extra-help) position, working on an as-needed basis, paying $40 per hour.”
The fact that the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office felt it necessary to issue a news release in addition to a job listing underscores the importance of air support to police operations in Spokane County.
Many of Air 1’s recent routine patrol flights have become something more like routine helicopter chases, enabling police to in effect fly over Washington’s current restrictive pursuit laws, as previously reported by The Center Square.
For instance, on the night of Valentine’s Day, Spokane Valley Deputy E. Jones noticed an idling green Honda idling in a parking stall on the 5000 block of E. Sprague, Spokane Valley, and ran the license plate.
When it came back with the wrong sort of car altogether, a 2018 Kia Sportage, Jones approached the Honda in a patrol vehicle and it fled at high speed. Jones couldn’t give chase, but Air 1 was already on patrol and did follow the car for about a half-hour.
Police were eventually able to spike strip the fleeing car and arrest the suspect, later identified as 36-year-old Allen K. York Jr.
That apprehension and many others would not have been possible under current law, which said that police ground vehicles usually cannot pursue speeding cars without both “probable cause” and the OK of a higher-up – without helicopter pursuit.
“The thing is Air 1 is a limited resource,” Corporal Mark Gregory, spokesman with the Spokane County Sheriff’s office, told The Center Square about a previous air-assisted apprehension. “It’s not 24/7 365, and all of our pilots are volunteers. Plus, the helicopter is a shared asset, we simply don’t have the resources to call on it constantly. Without those volunteer pilots we’d be in bigger trouble.”
