I kept hearing a car driving down my back lane. I would get up, looking out the back window of the house, but there was no car to be seen. This has been going on for a few days now. I thought I was going nuts. But no, I just looked out the window again, and this time I could see lights in the sky. It was the police helicopter. It's not even in service and it is already driving me out of my mind. It didn't just fly by once, or twice, but I saw it fly past my house three times within a couple of minutes, just circling. I can't wait until the helicopter flies over the house at 2:00am.
During the training hours with the helicopter, how many hours a day will it be in the air? And how many times will it go past my house within minutes. I have already seen it over my house last night, earlier this afternoon, and again tonight. But tonight it just won't go away.
What are the hours of operation for this helicopter? If I am woken up by noise at 2:00am and it turns out to be the police helicopter, am I allowed to call the police to make a noise complaint? If they are simply patrolling, and not officially tracking a specific criminal performing a crime, would it be considered un-necessary noise?
And what about the search light? How invasive is that going to be? And are they going to be using the search light with their current training exercises? I feel like I am in one of those gang movies "Boyz In The Hood" or "Colors", with the constant sound of helicopters overhead, with search lights shining into windows.
While the helicopter is doing its training, how many hours will it be up in the air? Are they doing their training only over the North End? Are we the only lucky recipients of its noise? When will they begin training with the search light? I can't wait to see all the criminals the helicopter is going to catch while it disturbs me with its noise. I say that because I believe it won't make a damned bit of difference in the prevention or investigation of crimes, or the catching of criminals. I can hear that helicopter again as I am typing this blog, windows closed, curtains covering them. Imagine the noise in the summer, when my windows are open, as the helicopter competes with the neighbours swearing and smashing property all night long.
The police helicopter may be the final straw that makes me put a for sale sign up.
I can still hear that damned helicopter. I can't believe how angry it is making me. I try not to rant in this blog, and I don't swear in it, but I can still hear that damned helicopter. And I find it very disturbing that it is a Police innitiative that has made me this upset.
What were they thinking? All this helicopter does in increase the feeling that we are in a war zone. Add more police, bring in more dogs, increase the cadets, but for Heaven sakes get rid of that damned helicopter.
Please do not put up a For Sale sign, we need people like you in the North End; sorry about the helicopter we haven't seen or heard it yet in Point Douglas. We did see the eagle flying down the river last week, he is huge but very quiet.
ReplyDeleteWhen it flew over my place of employment barly heard it , when it catches the house break in artist you might think other wise . It is not that loud less you sleep in the yard . Maybe if we did not have all of these punks runnig around the streets at 2 oclock in the morning it would not be needed .
ReplyDeleteThe helicopter went by again at 10:15pm, then just now at 10:55pm. How late is it going to be flying in its training sessions?
ReplyDeleteIt is loud enough that I hear it over the tv, so late at night when I am trying to sleep, it will definitely be bothering me.
Look at the bright side.With the sounds of the chopper copper, you will not be able to hear the gunfire.Keep up the good work Ray,and Ward.We see a future for you at city hall
ReplyDeleteI spoke with the Police, and they say the helicopter is operational now. It can run as much or as little as needed, and can run day, evening, or night.
ReplyDeleteI got used to the sirens (kind of), and I have adapted to other noises. I guess meditation is in my future. Ommm. All is well with the universe. Ommm. Studies have shown helicopters work. Ommm. All is well with the universe.
"What were they thinking?"- Winnipeg is a major city, with major city crime and needs a major city way to fight back. What if the chopper was in operation the night of the 3 shootings that have still gone unsolved? It may not have prevented the first one, maybe not the second, but maybe, just maybe, they could have caught the bastard on route to the third shooting. Even scared him/her off. If you want to get out and sell because of the city putting money to better secure your life and mine, please leave. If you want to actually make a difference in your community, stop reporting on garbage, and welcome the new crime fighting tool our officers will be able to utilize to keep our city safe.
ReplyDeleteYou obviously don't live in the north end! And you sure are arrogant too ! You sound like a cop. For sure you are an Ass!!
DeleteWhat studies show that the helicopters reduce crime? As a former resident of Edmonton, I know there is a lot more debate about the utility of the helicopter than you read in the Free Press.
ReplyDeleteEither you have some seriously thin windows or supersonic hearing.
ReplyDeleteTo complain about the sound of the new EC-130 police helicopter is akin to complaining about the traffic noise from Salter or Main St (to which ever you are closer).
Perhaps you are in a war zone and the chopper is in the air following a stolen car or petty thugs.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the West End and was surprised at the noise of the helicopter. It didn't even seem very low at the time either. In Winnipeg there is a total disregard for noise. Snow removal all night, sirens on going down empty streets, police banging unnecessarily loudly on people's doors, garbage pickup ridiculously early in the morning. All these things (barring emergencies) should be between 11am and 8pm when 99% of the population is awake. A lot of people don't realize your IQ lowers when suffering from sleep deprivation. And noise interferes with quality sleep. So you're stupider when you're more tired. The problem is most people are clueless about their own physiology so they don't even realize it when their health is being compromised. Ever notice that such a high percentage of Winnipeggers smoke? Ask someone what is the survival rate of lung cancer and I bet 95% will answer way above 50%. Truth is its only 14%. They're slitting their own throats - slowly. And what a painful, horrible way to go too.
ReplyDeleteMy personal thought on the helicopter are that it is a waste of money and that indeed more cops on the streets would likely have a much better response time. However, I don't think the noise is an issue.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a city, and cities have noise. From the sounds of it you live close to a fire station, fire trucks make noise. You also live in a high density area, that makes it more likely that you will hear noise from the neighbours. Now, I'm not disagreeing that the North End has more problems than say, Island Lakes, but threatening to move because of a city noise just seems silly.
No one in any neighbourhood deserves to have many of the problems that you encounter, but surely you realize that in every city in the world there is a division between rich and poor (and therefore crime). Sure, you can move, but you're probably looking at 100k to be in another neighbourhood that could still have a problem neighbour or two. Heck, for another 300k you can move to River Heights and not worry about noise (unless someone tries to put a patio on their high end pizza place - god forbid! NOISE NOISE NOISE!) It's all relative.
Finally someone else who has heard this damn chopper! This thing keeps me up at night all the time. It's awful. I used to live in a house on Dorchester and wentworth and it kept me up at night. Now I live in an apartment on corydon and Hugo...same damn thing. It's at the most obnoxious times too (3 or 4 am) and it just cirlces over and over. It's insane. I'm not going to delve into the debate about whether or not Winnipeg needs a police helicopter - hell, maybe it does - but do they have to fly training missions over the neighbourhood with the highest population density in the province? Go out to Headingley or something.
ReplyDeleteBut before anything else we should consider first our safety when talking about this. I'm really guilty of not trying this one because of the fear that I have. I really want to fly a helicopter. I envy you guys.
ReplyDeleteIt was flying over our house in circles this morning for 20 mins starting at 3:25. We live on the south side near Bonnie Doon mall. Made me wonder what was going on!
ReplyDeleteSorry I thought thIs was about the Edmonton police helicopter!
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