Four helicopters will join the Beijing police next year to improve its airborne law enforcement capability and to assist ensure a safe 2008 Olympic Games, a top security official said yesterday in Beijing.

 

The helicopters will be used in a range of duties including search and rescue, traffic control, and aerial photography, Tao Junsheng, deputy director of the finance and equipment bureau of the Ministry of Public Security said at the 2006 China International Exhibition on Police Equipment.

 

A helicopter is capable of monitoring an area 15 times larger than can be covered by police on the ground and in areas where they’ll be deployed it’s anticipated street crimes will be reduced by 50 percent, he said.

 

The four helicopters will be supplied by AgustaWestland (Agusta) a leading helicopter design and manufacturer based in Italy and Britain.

 

Contracts will be signed soon between the Beijing Public Security Bureau and AgustaWestland, said Agusta Asia sales director Fulvio Maurogiovanni.

 

And to demonstrate that the company wishes to be part of the Olympic Games they’ve agreed to supply one of the four helicopters free of charge, Maurogiovanni said.

 

The first helicopter will be delivered to the Beijing police next April and the others will arrive by the end October the same year, according to Agusta.

 

(China Daily May 25, 2006)