By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett says helicopter operations such as the one used by the St. Joseph Police Department last week can be quite effective and safe.
Forty officers participated in the operation late Wednesday evening. The St. Joseph Police Department joined with the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force and the Missouri State Highway Patrol to make 92 traffic stops, issuing 96 tickets. The Elwood Police Department and the Andrew County Sheriff’s Department assisted.
Puett says the helicopter is used to supplement work on the road.
“If the officers on the ground can make the stop and the person stops, then that’s fine,” Puett says. “It’s the issue of when the vehicle flees the stop or fails to stop for the officer with the helicopter being up above, then obviously the helicopter is able to track the vehicle.”
Six vehicles fled during the operation last week. The helicopter tracked the cars. They were stopped and their drivers arrested.
Puett says such helicopter operations target trouble spots in the St. Joseph area, areas in which there has been criminal activity or appear to be areas suspects like to flee to.
“It helps target and hopefully gets some people arrested and have a safer way of doing it, especially when they get in these vehicles and they try to flee from us,” Puett says.