Originally Posted by
Spongebob
One, because even in a plane you are subpoenable, not to mention you need to know the rules regarding law enforcement while you are flying (why on my drug ops deployment we had Coast Guard guys on a Navy ship and why we always flew with them, and why we couldn't share our intel with them as it became subpoenable after a bust, and we didn't want to burn our sources)
Two, if you put an officer in a plane, they are a cop first and pilot second which means they probably are not going to go to XJT after they get 1500 hrs. Good use of taxpayer dollars.
Spongebob
You could still hire a pilot and send him to the accademy. And noone leaves to go to XJT. They start out at $70+ and if they work an extra 2hrs a day they get a 20% bonus. Who the hell would leave that. Subpoenable doesn't mean anything if the pilot works for the agency. Rule regarding law enforcement is easier than learning to fly from scratch. The guys in the air rarely communicate with any illegals. They more or less use FLIR and their eyeballs to communicate with ground units only.