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WHAT THEY WERE THINKING
Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, Nov. 17, 2003
Interview by CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS
 olice
Officer Glenn Hoffman (in helicopter): ''I work for N.Y.P.D.'s Aviation
Unit. We have two Bell 412EP helicopters that we use for medevacs or
air-sea rescues, but this brand-new one we use for counterterrorism and
surveillance. It's very impressive what they can put in a machine. That
camera out front is the same as a news camera. We can broadcast images
back to Police Headquarters. Or we can just look at something on the
ground. We could be at 2,000 feet, and you can see people running and
read license plates. We've also got a thermal imager: it picks up heat
signals. It can't see through things, but you can see people in the
dark as clear as day. If you stripped all the toys off the outside and
inside, this 412 and the other two we've got are the same. So for
pilots like me, there's no difference in flying this one, but the
mission is different. On a rescue mission, we have to make an
on-the-scene decision. When we fight crime and terrorism, we do
investigations and surveillance. In both cases, you're saving lives.
But if you take away a terrorist's chance to kill, it's not as
immediate as saving someone in imminent danger.''
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