page_title: Pasadena Police Department (California)
section_title: Air support
hierarchical_section_title: Pasadena Police Department (California) / Air support
caption_attribution_description: English: Architect Robert A. M. Stern chose a bold design for the new Pasadenda, California Police Department Building, which opened in 1990. Critics uniformly praised the building as strong yet complementary to the city's classic City Hall in "Old Pasadena."
context_page_description: The Pasadena Police Department is the police department serving Pasadena, California. The headquarters of the Pasadena Police Department is located at 207 North Garfield Avenue in Pasadena, just a block from the Pasadena City Hall and Paseo Colorado. The department employs 241 sworn officers, 13 reserve officers, and 126 civilian employees. The police chief is John Perez, who spent his entire career with the department.
context_section_description: The department began air operations in 1969 and was one of the first members of the Airborne Law Enforcement Association.
  In 1999, the department expanded its operations by creating the Foothill Air Support Team (FAST), working with ten nearby police departments by providing air support to cities that could not afford their own helicopter. Besides Pasadena, cities participating in FAST are Alhambra, Arcadia, Covina, Monrovia, Glendora, San Marino, South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Pomona, and Irwindale. Three police officers are chosen from the participating FAST cities to work as Tactical Flight Officers, whose duties include observing, monitoring radio frequency for all participating cities, navigating, and coordinating ground units.
  Pasadena PD also operates and stores a Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil owned by the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (L.A. IMPACT). A pilot and Tactical Flight Officer are assigned full-time to L.A. IMPACT to assist narcotics detectives with high altitude surveillance operations.
  The department maintains five of their own helicopters, based at an area near Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Rose Bowl.
  Using a strategy developed by Lieutenant Mike Ingram, Pasadena PD Air Support and the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District use Pasadena PD helicopters to check swimming pools in 23 cities to ensure cleanliness and to prevent the West Nile virus.
  On 17 November 2012, a police helicopter struck another on the ground at the department's heliport, injuring five people. Both aircraft suffered considerable damage.
caption: Pasadena Police Department building, designed by architect Robert A. M. Stern and opened in 1990
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