(Image: King County Sheriff)

The King County Sheriff has added a new Bell 407GXi helicopter to replace a well-worn five decades-old chopper in its small Guardian One fleet.

The new $6 million craft will bring a new core to the sheriff’s Air Support Unit that provides service to law enforcements agencies across the area including the Seattle Police Department. When you hear a chopper above the city, there’s a good chance it is either a TV helicopter or Guardian One.

“In addition to rescue calls, Guardian One will assist with searching for missing people, locating robbery suspects and stolen vehicles, and will allow for safer interventions during police pursuits,” the county says.

The Guardian One resources include cameras and Forward Looking Infrared to help find people on the ground.

(Image: King County Sheriff)

The King County Sheriff’s Air Support Unit is the only “full-time rotary-wing law enforcement aviation unit in Washington State.” The unit has operated with a Bell 206B3 helicopter, a UH-1H “Huey” helicopter received from a federal surplus program, and a Bell 407 paid for with regional Homeland Security funding.

The unit operates six days a week and is in the air around 100 hours per month.

Use of Guardian One by SPD can be spotty and is often dependent on whether the sheriff’s office has already scheduled the unit and its limited set of specialized staff and pilots to be active. There are frequent times when SPD’s requests for Guardian One support will be denied because of unavailability.

The county says the Air Support Unit flew over 480 missions in 2023. So far in 2024, the unit has flown over 300 missions and assisted other agencies more than 65 times.

Over Capitol Hill, the use of Guardian One and law enforcement aircraft can be a sensitive subject amid memories of loud law enforcement and media helicopters and air surveillance during the 2020 protests. CHS reported here on the surprisingly detailed surveillance imagery captured by a surprisingly loud and annoying Washington State Patrol plane during CHOP. Other visits have included the use of the city’s air space as a training ground for Army Blackhawks from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. In 2021, the sheriff’s department ruffled feathers here by deploying two of its choppers simultaneously in loud and low flyovers of the city that caused more than a few concerns but turned out to be a photo shoot for the unit’s promotions and social media.

King County says it provided $5.8 million in funding for the helicopter and the state Legislature provided nearly $1 million. “More than 70 law enforcement agencies from local, regional, state, and federal departments sent a letter to state lawmakers about the critical need for this new aircraft to strengthen and modernize the Air Support Unit,” the county’s announcement reads.

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