Why an aircraft registered to West Yorkshire crime commissioner topped Surrey airfield's out-of-hours logs
Logs for out-of-hours movements published by Redhill Aerodrome detail 415 landings and take-offs registered to the PCC, peaking at 132 in September.
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Hide AdThe data was highlighted by a member of the public concerned about the potential cost to taxpayers and baffled by the apparent high volume of visits by PCC Mark Burns-Williamson.
But the aircraft responsible for the activity in Surrey is actually a National Police Air Service (NPAS) helicopter.
Russ Woolford, NPAS’s assistant operations director for the south east, said Mr Burns-Williamson plays a leading role in its governance and chairs the NPAS National Strategic Board.
“Because NPAS is a concept rather than a legal entity, it cannot own property or employ people – this has to be done by the PCC for West Yorkshire and the Chief Constable for West Yorkshire Police on behalf of the rest of England and Wales,” he said.
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Hide Ad“The Office of the PCC owns the airframes and the contracts under which NPAS operates, while the Chief Constable is the employer of the staff.”
NPAS, a borderless air support with a national network of bases, is funded by each participating police force paying a proportionate contribution toward the overall delivery cost, based on its service use.