So Just How Much Pollution Do LAPD Helicopters Emit? Officials Disagree Over How They're Used

The Los Angeles Police Department said the L.A. City Controller’s audit of its 17 helicopter fleet gave an inaccurate picture of CO2 emissions, fuel costs and other impacts.

On Tuesday, the LAPD responded to the audit released in December with their own. Commander Shannon Paulson told the Board of Police Commissioners that the controller's team has a “fundamental lack of understanding of police response and police work in general” that appears to have led to inaccuracies in their report about how the helicopters are used.

What are the concerns with the audit?

The audit found that the helicopters spent a disproportionate amount of time in certain communities when compared to the levels of crime, but LAPD officials said flight times were directly tied to higher crime rates.

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The LAPD also expressed concerns about the fuel costs outlined in the audit, which they said was significantly overestimated.

“For instance, calculations based on the documented burn rate and fuel costs revealed the controller’s estimates were inflated 21% over actual verifiable expenditures,” Paulson said.

The controller's audit also found that the helicopters release thousands of metric tons of CO2 each year, but LAPD officials said those numbers were also inflated by about 20%.

Officials noted that they tried to validate the controller’s findings, but they weren’t able to get the raw data.

But, it wasn’t all bad. Paulson said they’ve embraced the “constructive criticism” about their public outreach efforts and daily flight data, and she added that the department has been making progress in those areas.

What is the city controller’s response? 

Sergio Perez, the controller’s chief of accountability and oversight, told LAist that the LAPD had an opportunity to respond to the audit and its findings before the report was released, but the department didn’t take them up on the offer.

“What we are frankly confused about, which is, they did have an opportunity to review the raw data that underlined things like cost analysis and other conclusions, and they chose not to avail themselves of that,” Perez said.

For the concerns about the cost, Perez said they publicly shared the breakdown of their math when the audit was released, and the total did include factors that have never been taken into account before.

As for the CO2 emissions, Perez said they used the most up-to-date research and academic sources.

“We think that they are the right figures to cite, that the final calculations are correct, and that there are conclusions that we stand by, and that our staff fully vetted,” he said.

Perez noted that their report was completed by auditors who predate Controller Kenneth Mejia, and the conclusions stood up to the scrutiny of a peer review process, in line with generally accepted government auditing standards.