TAMPA, Fla. — From finding endangered kids to catching burglars in the act, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office’s growing Aviation Unit has daily presence in the sky above your community.
Nearly every week now, dramatic new video is captured on the high-powered cameras, strapped to the bottom of one of the unit’s four multi-purpose choppers.
In the past couple of months alone, pilots helped deputies find a five-year-old child with autism wandering in the woods, catch suspects breaking into cars in a Tampa neighborhood and help rescue a missing elderly man with dementia in Brandon.
The roughly 20-person aviation unit is made up of pilots and mechanics. Leaders say they’ve been an invaluable asset for the sheriff’s office and the communities they cover.
“You can't really put a price tag on what they do with this unit and how successful it is,” said Colonel Anthony Collins, who heads the department of operational support. “It's just more or less a force multiplier, whether it's fighting crimes, saving lives or saving property.”
Collins says in recent years they’ve been focusing on being more proactive, doing surveillance in detective-identified “hot spots” for things like car thefts or burglaries to catch suspects in the act.
"Our aviation unit is flying three times more than they flew several years ago. Last year they responded to more than 3100 calls of service,” Collins said.
Among those calls, responding to areas hit with hurricanes, brush fires and leading deputies to quickly rescue endangered members of the community.
“They can be the tom brady of the whole operation,” Collins explained. “They can tell people, be here, be here, meet these parameters and that is how it all leads to success.”
The sheriff's office hopes to continue to grow alongside the population, planning on having a new airplane join the fleet in 2025.