Newark Cops Use Helicopter Surveillance To Issue Traffic Tickets, Make Drug Arrests

Newark, NJ – The Newark Police Department is using helicopter surveillance of the city to help officers target residents for traffic and narcotics busts, authorities say.

According to the Newark Public Safety Department, a NPD helicopter helped members of its Special Enforcement Bureau to arrest three suspects, confiscate two illegal motorcycles and issue 22 traffic tickets during a targeted enforcement operation on Sunday.

This weekend’s enforcement operation was part of an effort to target the owners of illegal off-road motorcycles as well as those “engaged in other illegal activities,” police stated in a news release.

Authorities said that the department’s helicopter – NPD1 - helped officers to observe suspects’ activities from the air while directing detectives in cars to the locations of the alleged crimes.

"The helicopter keeps officers in cars from having to chase suspects in vehicles and needlessly endanger the lives of our residents,” Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said.

• See related article: Newark Cop Car Kills Teen During Chase, SWAT Arrests Others

“The helicopter is a useful tool,” Ambrose added. “It enables us to arrest fleeing suspects in vehicles without having to chase them… It also enables arrests to be made through observations from the air that can’t be seen from the street… We will continue to use the helicopter to target those who ride off-road motorcycles on our streets and to target other illegal activities.”

According to police, Sunday’s helicopter surveillance contributed to three arrests that day:

• Newark police arrested an 18-year-old dirt bike rider who allegedly attempted to elude officers before crashing near the intersection of Avon and Farley Avenues and sustaining minor injuries.
• Police arrested a 34-year-old man for heroin and marijuana possession near the intersection of South 18th Street and 18th Avenue.
• Police arrested a 39-year-old Newark man on South 15th Street after he was allegedly spotted “driving recklessly and at a high rate of speed.”

Although Newark police lauded the use of helicopter surveillance, some civil rights advocacy groups have cautioned about the potential abuse of manned aerial surveillance.

“Because of the expense of using manned police aircraft, privacy invasions have not risen to the level that legislators have felt compelled to address them, but incidents do happen,” an ACLU blog post stated in 2013. “In 2005, for example, a police helicopter supposedly monitoring a street protest in New York City instead trained its infrared camera for a prolonged period on a couple making love on a pitch-black rooftop patio.”

However, the ACLU added that the expense of manned aerial surveillance may be one of the best safeguards against its misuse.

“A police helicopter costs from $500,000 to $3 million to acquire and $200 to $400 an hour to fly,” the ACLU stated. “Such expenses… mean the police are likely to use them only where they are most needed.”

According to City of Newark documents, maintenance service for the department’s NPD1 helicopter between June and September of 2012 cost $81,000.

NPD1 was also used in 2012 to support the City of Newark’s Homeland Security Mission by flying over the Prudential Center, the Peter J. Rodino Federal Building, power plants, FBI building, chemical facilities, rail yards and other “critical infrastructures,” according to city documents.

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