The Aerial Platform Option for Law Enforcement

Any SWAT commander will tell you they want as many options as possible on the table during an operation. It does not guarantee success, but it increases the likelihood of success.  One such option is the use of an Aerial Platform (AP). I will refer to it this way but it is also referred to as Aerial Gunnery, Aerial Marksmanship and Aerial Platform Interdiction depending on who you might be speaking with. Aerial Platform is defined as the placing of accurate rifle fire from a hovering, crawling or moving helicopter in support of a tactical operation. This article will focus on the deployment and issues surrounding the law enforcement community.

Potential road blocks

The mere mention of training your SWAT officers to fire from the agency’s helicopter usually ends up in a short conversation with the chain of command, if they are not open minded people.  With the recent increased spotlight on the militarization of the police, this discussion may prove to be even more difficult but is one that needs to be had. If your agency has a helicopter then likely it is responsible for a large amount of area to respond to and/or your agency is of a good size. If you are a member of SWAT, then perhaps it’s time to explore the possibilities of AP being a viable option during certain operations.

If your chain of command is open to the training and deployment of this option then the next trip is down to aviation hangar to talk with the pilots and tactical flight officers (TFOs). What you may encounter next is unknown. Some pilots are open to training AP and some are not. Like I said earlier, you need open minded people that will not make their decision as soon as the words ‘shoot from the helicopter’ are uttered. There is not really a rhyme or reason why pilots will say yes or no. I once thought the old head pilots would be opposed to it, but have been proven wrong. Many are eager to help.  Younger pilots may have their reservations, some depending on the amount of flight hours under their belt and their comfort level.   Regardless, the pilots and the shooters are the two critical components to operational success.

• Justification
• 3 common excuses
• Who gets put in the helicopter
• Closing thoughts

by Mark Lang on Officer.com

[button size=”medium” style=”primary” text=”Read the rest of the article on Officer.com” link=”http://www.officer.com/article/12025217/the-aerial-platform-option-for-law-enforcement” target=”blank”]