Friday, March 5, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.
The familiar white, green and gold paint scheme of Metro Police helicopters can often be spotted during their daily patrols over the valley, but a less conspicuous group of helicopters is quietly flying hundreds of security and surveillance missions a year in the same skies.
Using high-tech infrared cameras mounted to OH-58 helicopters, a specialized Army National Guard unit provides stealthy reconnaissance support to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
"We don't want the bad guys to know we're up there," said Maj. Kim Labrie, who supervises Nevada's Reconnaissance Ariel Interdiction Detachment, or RAID. "Secrecy is big-time for us if we don't want to compromise our mission."
At first glance, the two helicopters used by RAID in Las Vegas appear to be black, but Labrie is quick to point out that they are actually a dark green.
"Our job is to go out and provide a specialized type of support to law enforcement, but we don't have powers of arrest or any part in their investigations," Labrie said. "We don't go up and patrol or troll for people.
"We're just the eye in the sky."
The unit flew more than 400 missions in Nevada in fiscal year 2003 at the request of law enforcement agencies, helping to provide added communication, security for visiting dignitaries, search and rescue and surveillance during undercover drug stings.
New legislation being proposed in Congress could further expand the role of the country's 37 RAID units, making them available to provide support for homeland security. In Las Vegas RAID pilots are already assisting with homeland security, flying over the Strip during the high terror alert on New Year's Eve, for example.
Jerry Bussell, Nevada State Homeland Security Adviser, said that RAID, and the National Guard in general, are tremendous homeland security assets.
"Homeland security is the nation's No. 1 priority, and at the cutting edge of that sword is the National Guard," Bussell said. "There are skills and assets there that we can take advantage of. We can really sculpt the manpower and equipment in the National Guard to fit a homeland security mission."
Bussell said that the National Guard is uniquely suited to a homeland security mission, because unlike the active duty military, the guard does not fall under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prevents the military from acting as a domestic police force.
Still, RAID steers clear of law enforcement responsibilities, Labrie said. The unit limits its involvement to surveillance, although any video taken by the helicopters camera system is turned over to the pertinent law enforcement agency and could be used as evidence.
RAID began nationally in 1993, and a full-time unit began operating in Las Vegas in May 2001. The program is federally funded, with Nevada's unit costing about $3 million a year.
Nevada's RAID unit includes four helicopters, two in Las Vegas and two in Reno, each equipped with a video camera and a forward looking infrared, or FLIR system. The FLIR system can pick up heat signatures from people and other objects outside while the helicopter flies overhead at altitudes of 3,500 feet.
About 15 guardsmen, all but two of whom are full-time employees, make up the Nevada RAID unit. The members of the unit are considered undercover because of the covert nature of some of the drug busts and other operations they are involved in.
Kim Evans, a spokeswoman with the Nevada Department of Public Safety, said that RAID is an important part of the state's ability to investigate illegal narcotics.
"They can provide surveillance from the air so that we can see what is going on safely without risking any of our officers on the ground," Evans said.
While Metro has four patrol helicopters and two heavy rescue helicopters, other jurisdictions such as North Las Vegas and Henderson do not have helicopters. Metro's aircraft are sometimes used for surveillance, but their No. 1 priority is patrol, Metro officials said.
Metro does use the RAID helicopters to supplement the department's air force.
The RAID pilots have logged an average of 4,000 hours of flight time over their careers, and are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"Usually we'll get a call from a police agency asking us if we can give them some support for a warrant or bust that is going down in 30 minutes to an hour," said one of the pilots, who is a former North Carolina Police officer.
The pilots are trained to fly evasively, to avoid tipping off possible criminals to the fact that they are being watched.
"When we're up there we don't just sit on top of who we're watching because at 3,000 feet it's pretty easy to spot us," the former police officer said. "We don't drop down and sit until the police have fitted the criminal for a nice pair of bracelets (handcuffs)."
The aircraft can also spotlight buildings for SWAT and other police operations using its sunburst light, an intense beam that can set grass on fire if turned on while the helicopter is landed.
The helicopters have the ability to transmit real-time video to officers on the ground through a black briefcase that opens to reveal a monitor and controls that look like they belong in a spy movie. The briefcase can be plugged into the cigarette lighter of an undercover patrol car and officers can watch the progress of their suspect from blocks away so as not to blow their cover.
The helicopters can also serve as a broadcast platform, transferring communications between police and other emergency responders.
And the pilots face a variety of dangers, Labrie said.
"Las Vegas is one of the most extreme environments that there is for helicopters," Labrie said. "You've got the heat, the extreme elevation shifts of Death Valley and the Spring Mountains, the winds and an incredible amount of air traffic.
"As a pilot you have to deal with all that and you've got a wind up helicopter to do it in."
The OH-58 helicopters used by the unit were built in the 1970s and are considered the workhorse of Army aircraft, but they don't have the power of the larger Blackhawk or Metro's newer McDonnell Douglas MD 500s.
The unit has five full-time mechanics who are constantly checking the aircraft, spending much of their time tracking shorts that sometimes crop up in the old wiring.
"They're the John Deere of the helicopter market," one of the unit's pilots said. "As long as you maintain these things they will never let you down."
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