Columbus police helicopter spells out 'CPD' as council members criticize skywriting 'joyride'

A Columbus Division of Police helicopter flew and circled over the city early Saturday morning in a pattern that spelled out "CPD" in the air. (You can view the flight path here via FlightAware.)

To some, the discovery was kind of cool. To others, not so much.

The "joyride," as it was described on Twitter by Columbus City Council president pro tempore Elizabeth Brown, has drawn wide criticism on social media today, with Brown writing that she was "beyond frustrated" with the flight path in light of a bill she proposed last summer to decrease the size of the city's helicopter fleet by one. (The measure was eventually tabled after CPD argued the helicopters were essential.)

Council member Rob Dorans, who supported Brown's legislation to reduce the CPD helicopter fleet, also chimed in on Twitter, writing, "We were told over and over again how essential every second of airtime was. This joyride was just plain dumb and a waste of taxpayer dollars."

In June 2020, The Dispatch reported the city's annual maintenance costs for the CPD helicopter fleet at $452,000 and fuel costs at $249,000.

In addition to the wasted dollars, several accounts on Twitter also noted that the flight path, including the skywriting portion of the trek, hewed strictly to predominantly Black neighborhoods.

The city is currently in the midst of renegotiating its contract with the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, which represents 28 law enforcement agencies in central Ohio, including CPD, and pressure on officials to adopt some kind of police reform has increased amid the ongoing Black lives matter protests within Columbus.

The commander who oversees CPD's aviation section is reviewing the flight pattern and details of the flight in question, which was a regularly scheduled 90-minute patrol flight, according to a statement posted Saturday evening on Twitter.

"The pilot navigated throughout the city during the flight and responded on several high priority runs, including a stabbing and an assault in progress," it said.

During the time between dispatched runs, the pilot flew the "CPD" pattern in less than 10 minutes and at "normal patrol altitude," according to police.

"No calls for service were missed during this time and no additional fuel was utilized, but even the appearance that officers were not operating within the mission of the aviation section is not acceptable," the statement said.

Dispatch reporter Alissa Widman Neese contributed to this story.

adowning@columbusalive.com

@andydowning33

This article originally appeared on Columbus Alive: Columbus police helicopter criticized over skywriting 'joyride'