{"id":29609,"date":"2024-09-09T15:06:04","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T15:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=29609"},"modified":"2024-09-09T15:09:09","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T15:09:09","slug":"peoria-celebrates-launch-of-police-fire-aviation-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/arizona\/peoria-celebrates-launch-of-police-fire-aviation-unit\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Peoria Celebrates Launch of Police Fire Aviation Unit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On August 20, the City of Peoria \u201ccut the ribbon\u201d to commemorate the debut of its first Aviation Unit and reveal the new Bell 505 helicopter, as a new tool to enhance public safety capabilities in the West Valley. Watch a video<\/a> of the dedication ceremony remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Jason Beck, Police Chief Thomas Intrieri, Assistant Fire-Medical Chief Justin Gorospe and City Manager Henry Darwin addressed a crowd including guests from the Arizona State Legislature and members of the Peoria City Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs Peoria, and the West Valley continue to grow, so will public safety needs,\u201d said Peoria Mayor Jason Beck. \u201cAnd moving forward, Peoria will be ready and able to help our residents, and our neighbors should they request a call for service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bell 505<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Peoria City Council\u2019s Strategic Priority of \u201cPublic Safety\u201d recognized the need for the aviation unit and prioritized investing in the safety of first responders and community members. Mayor Jason Beck secured state funding in the amount of $3.5 million dollars through Arizona State Senate Bill 1702 to purchase a helicopter and establish an aviation unit. On December 12, 2023, the City Council approved the purchase of a Bell 505 helicopter to support Fire-Medical and Police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Peoria Fire-Medical Department has been training air rescue technicians for more than 30 years and we are grateful that the city council prioritizes community safety and provides us with the tools we need to keep everyone safe,\u201d said Peoria Assistant Fire-Medical Chief Justin Gorospe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peoria Police Chief Thomas Intrieri, who spent 20 years with Mesa Police, before joining Peoria is well-versed on how mission critical an aviation unit can be for public safety response. \u201cAs we roll out this program over a series of phases, we will be able to get to emergencies faster and be the \u2018eye in the sky\u2019 when searching for a missing person; or help guide ground support to curb potentially dangerous situations; or quickly find those evading law enforcement, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aviation Unit will be able to support other public safety entities in the West Valley upon request and availability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phoenix Police Commander Brian Riggan says aerial support is crucial to assist peace officers on the ground. \u201cAircraft provide an immediate impact to short-staffed public safety agencies. They also reduce risk to our citizens and police officers during high-risk incidents like police pursuits, foot chases, tactical situations, and emergency 911 calls for crimes in progress. Being airborne reduces response time and allows public safety to arrive faster to get an \u201ceye\u201d on the scene, which aids in apprehension and planning safe arrivals for responding police and fire department ground personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The helicopter will be housed at a hangar located at Glendale Municipal Airport along with offices for the pilot and maintenance crew. Full deployment of this aviation unit is expected by October 2025. It will also be available for use by surrounding West Valley cities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 20, the City of Peoria \u201ccut the ribbon\u201d to commemorate the debut of its first Aviation Unit and reveal the new Bell 505 helicopter, as a new tool to enhance public safety capabilities in the West Valley. Watch a video of the dedication ceremony remarks. Mayor Jason Beck, Police Chief Thomas Intrieri, Assistant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arizona"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bell-505-Peoria.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29609"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29615,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29609\/revisions\/29615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}