page_title: West Midlands Police
section_title: Air operations
hierarchical_section_title: West Midlands Police / Structure and departments / Specialist crime teams / Air operations
caption_attribution_description: The very first West Midlands Police helicopter, G-WMPA, an Aerospatiale AS355 F2, after the force launched their own air unit with it on 10 May 1989.
context_page_description: West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England.
  Covering an area with nearly 2.9 million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and also the Black Country; the force is made up of 6,495 Police Officers. In 2014 there were 7,162 officers, 611 are from a BAME background, supported by 3,131 Police Staff, 188 Special Constables and 506 Police Community Support Officers – with these 10,884 employees, this makes it the third largest force in England and Wales behind the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police; and the fifth-largest force in the United Kingdom after Police Scotland and Police Service Northern Ireland.
  The force is currently led by Chief Constable Dave Thompson. The force area is divided into ten Local Policing Units, each being served by four core policing teams – Response, Neighbourhood, Investigation and Community Action & Priority – with the support of a number of specialist crime teams.
context_section_description: The Midlands Air Operations Unit is a consortium of West Midlands, Warwickshire, West Mercia and Staffordshire Police which is based at Birmingham Airport and has operated since 25 July 1987.
  After experimenting, since the 1970s, with civilian helicopters hired on an occasional basis, West Midlands Police launched their own air unit on 10 May 1989 with G-WMPA, an Aérospatiale AS355 F2. G-WMPA was subsequently fitted with a gyro-stabilised camera turret with daytime and thermal image cameras, plus a Nitesun Searchlight and Skyshout PA System. It was sold to a buyer in Switzerland in 2007. From January 2000 they operated G-WMID, a MD902 "NOTAR" helicopter, named "Miss Mollie Collins", after a child who had "shown tremendous courage in dealing with her disability", in a local newspaper competition. This aircraft was subsequently re-registered as G-KSSH and is the Surrey air ambulance. In July 2007 G-WMID was replaced by a Eurocopter EC135 P2+, G-WMAO. G-WAMO was destroyed by arson in the early hours of 8 June 2009, while at Birmingham Airport. From October 2009 to July 2010, they used a Eurocopter EC135 T1, G-SUFF, loaned by the manufacturer.
  They now operate another Eurocopter EC135 P2, G-POLA, acquired in July 2010. The EC135 offers a range of capabilities including high definition thermal video recording, a microwave downlink to send images to control rooms, a 30 million candlepower spot light and an enhanced navigation system.
  All of the above helicopters have had a casualty evacuation role for occasions when a Midlands Air Ambulance was unable to attend meaning that they are able to carry a patient in a stretcher for transport to hospital.
  Under the terms of the National Police Air Service, a helicopter is available as a resource for use by neighbouring forces and in turn, West Midlands officers can call upon other forces' helicopters should their own be unavailable.
caption: The force's first helicopter, G-WMPA, an Aérospatiale AS355 F2.[76]
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