1 man, 169 Eagle complaints
Police chopper data disproves local’s flight path claims
An Auckland local board member who complained the police Eagle helicopter was a “nuisance” flying over the Remuera area too often at night on its way to attend jobs in South Auckland has complained to police 169 times since December, including 11 times in one day in June.
Other complaints for the same time period total just 26.
On June 28 the Herald published a story about O¯ra¯kei local board member and Remuera resident Troy Churton’s gripes with the police helicopter.
Churton called for police to review the criteria for the Eagle to fly at night, saying it should only be attending “higher level” incidents so his peace and sleep would be interrupted less.
He claimed that 75 per cent of jobs the Eagle attended were “South Auckland located” and flying over his neighbourhood to get to them was a “nuisance”.
In September 2017 the Eagle helicopter began operating 24/7.
Police said the increase in flying hours was to enable the provision of “essential support” to on-the-ground staff tasked with keeping Auckland communities safe.
The extra hours became possible through the Government’s Safer Communities package, which earmarked $388 million of funding for police during the next four years.
He said since the Eagle began operating full-time he had “consistently” raised the “degree of nuisance factor” with police.
Following the initial story the Herald requested information about the Eagle from the police under the Official Information Act.
Last week police revealed that between December 20 last year and August 13, Churton complained to police about the Eagle 169 times.
On June 22 this year he complained 11 times — at 3.18am, 5.01am, 5.15am, 5.24am, 5.43am, 6.13pm, 6.20pm, 6.50pm, 7.10pm, 7.29pm, 8.08pm and 10.25pm.
On other days he complained between one and six times.
For the same time period, police said they had 26 other individual complaints about the Eagle from members of the public.
They also released information on where the helicopter had been deployed — proving Churton’s assertion that three quarters of its jobs were South Auckland-based were wrong.
In the 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 years, the Eagle was deployed most often to the Auckland City area.
In the 2015/16 and 2016/17 the majority of jobs were attended in Counties Manukau — 39 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.
In the year ending June 30 this year, Counties Manukau also came out on top, with 43.3 per cent of deployments.
However, at no point did the Eagle attend 75 per cent of jobs in any one district.
Auckland City Police operations support manager Inspector Jim Wilson said the police helicopter provided a vital 24/7 service.
“And it is an extremely effective police resource that assists with critical events and helping to keep our communities safe,” he said. “Any member of the public is entitled to make a complaint and we . . . have received some noise complaints from individuals in relation to the Eagle helicopter.
“However, the vast majority of [public feedback] is supportive of this critical service and we continue to receive positive messages from the community who say they feel safe and reassured when they hear the Eagle helicopter.”
Police previously said they would not review the way the Eagle was operated, despite Churton’s complaints.
Churton yesterday said his complaints to police were his “part-time, proactive efforts to monitor things”.
Churton said he was “fully supportive of the police” and the efforts they make to keep Kiwi communities safe.
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