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Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by dogma1138 on Friday May 29, 2020 @03:14PM (#23354304)
Which police forces use Cobra helicopters? These are gunships that have no utility what so ever.

As for Blackhawks I’ve never seen them used by police forces, those in civilian use are not surplus military helicopters or even the UH-60 but rather it’s civilian version the Sikorsky S-70 which are used by fire departments and search and rescue crews.

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by ip26 on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:44PM (#23355308)
Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by dogma1138 on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:53PM (#23355407)
Police forces use transport and utility helicopters so what? None of these are attack helicopters other than the Cobra/Apache you won’t find a utility or transport (other than super heavy lifters) helicopters that don’t have a civilian version many of them started as civilian helicopter in the first place.

The UH-1 was developed as a medevac helicopter for the US army.

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by snypher on Friday May 29, 2020 @03:43PM (#23354611)
The Mexican Federal Police operate 6 Blackhawks provided by the US CBP. But it would be fair to say they serve a more militarized role than say Seattle PD.

https://youtu.be/mBTs6BGMa3U

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by dogma1138 on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:48PM (#23355358)
I see nothing wrong with Blackhawks in civilian use they are one of the best medium transport helicopters out there.

SAR, medevac, fire fightings etc. are all roles that the Blackhawk is perfectly suited for and all for which it has dedicated variants.

As for law enforcement use again I don’t see a problem with it, the use of them is mostly restricted to very special cases (FBI/DEA etc) due to cost of both the aircraft itself and the operational costs.

The Mexican federal police is indeed essentially an army at this point since they engage in paramilitary operations against the cartels.

On the other hand Cobras have no use other than to spray a target with their auto cannon or missiles.

So I was really curious what police force in the US or anyone is operating attack helicopters.