Tampa, Florida - It's a serious crime that could impact the safety of you and your family while you're sleeping. More and more Bay area members of law enforcement are facing a serious danger when they patrol our dark neighborhoods from the sky only to face people shining laser pointers at them.
The FAA received nearly 4,000 reports of laser strikes last year, including 355 reports in Florida.
Steve Hegarty is a spokesman with the Tampa Police Department. He says, "I don't know why people would do such a thing. It's a serious crime."
A crime Hegarty says 40 year old Mark White committed early Sunday morning. White is the latest to be accused of shining a blue laser pointer at one of their officers in the sky around 3:30 a.m. from the backyard of his Tampa home on Central Avenue.
The police helicopter was on routine flight operations and was able to direct patrol units to the location where the laser beams originated.
Hegarty says, "When you do something like that - it temporarily blinds the people there in the aircraft - which is very very dangerous - but it can also cause some issues with their eyes so we need to get them checked out after the fact."
When the light from a laser pointer fills the pilot's view it blinds them and they have that after image burned in, like you do when you look right at a light bulb and then look away. The laser light can cause permanent eye damage, and since the air crafts fly so low there's a real risk they could crash right into a neighborhood.
Last month detectives arrested Christopher Davis and Juliana Lampe after they say the pair confessed to shining a green laser at a Hillsborough County Sheriff's helicopter crew from their front porch. They're accused of temporarily blinding the sheriff's crew with a green laser pointer.
At the time deputies were trying to help police on the ground find a burglary suspect near the University of South Florida.
These types of incidents slow down law enforcement's ability to fight crime to keep you safe. Hegarty adds, "They're our eyes up in the air - they do a really good job - especially at night."
Anyone can buy a laser pointer capable of distracting pilots for just a few dollars online. Pointing one at an aircraft is a federal crime. If convicted of the crime you could spend up to five years in prison.
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