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The Regina Police Service’s Aerial Support Unit (ASU), has its eye back on the sky.
This comes nearly one year after the police plane — a Cessna 182-T model — was damaged last April during routine maintenance.
Damage to the wing was so extensive, a part of the plane had to be rebuilt, but it could only get parts from a factory in the U.S.
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The plane then had to pass numerous safety tests to get back in the air.
The cost to repair the plane was covered under insurance.
Officers who would normally work in the Aerial Support Unit were redeployed to other units while the plane was grounded.
The plane is equipped with all the regular plane equipment – radios, gauges, pedals, digital readouts and maps – but it also has the equipment you’d find in a police vehicle like radios, maps and a laptop showing calls and crimes in progress. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
Successful return to the sky
The aircraft returned to the sky on Feb. 14 and within the first seven shifts, it assisted with nearly 60 service calls and aided in 13 arrests.
The Regina Police Service highlighted three recent cases where the ASU assisted in three arrests.
On the evening of Feb. 21, officers saw a vehicle with a burnt-out light and attempted to do a traffic stop near 5th Avenue and Robinson Street.
The vehicle fled the scene.
The ASU tracked the suspect and officers were able to deploy a tire deflation device. ASU officers saw the suspect throw something as he exited the vehicle. ASU officers directed officers on the ground to the suspect’s location and the discarded items.
The suspect was arrested and a search of the area and his vehicle revealed drug trafficking items, resulting in charges.
The plane for the Regina Police Service Aerial Support Unit flies about one kilometre above the ground and is able to still keep an eye our for officers on the ground. Mar. 15, 2024. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
At around 10:15 p.m. on Feb. 22, ASU alerted ground patrol members of a suspicious vehicle. When officers found the vehicle near Retallack Street and 4th Avenue, it drove off.
The vehicle began driving into oncoming traffic, prompting officers on the ground to stop following the vehicle.
ASU continued to track the vehicle from the air and guided ground officers to the new location where the driver was quickly arrested.
A search of the vehicle and area found drug trafficking items, stolen identification documents, firearms and ammunition.
The man was arrested and charged.
In the early hours of Feb. 23, officers responded to a disturbance at a residence in the 400 block of Wascana Street.
A man was threatening a victim at a home where he was unwelcome.
ASU officers were able to locate the suspect who attempted to flee in a stolen vehicle but was stuck in the snow.
The suspect fled on foot and ASU officers directed ground officers to his location where he was hiding under a deck.
He was arrested and charged.
Read more:
- Regina firefighters battle blazes at motel and Ottawa Street home
- Regina steelworkers feeling uncertainty and frustration over U.S. tariff threat
- Regina sees surge in water main breaks amid sudden warm spell
— with files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick