A NEW police helicopter for Cambridgeshire has taken to the skies. The MD902 Explorer will cover the area across Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk. The £3.9 million helicopter boasts highly-advanced technology. A cutting edge mapping system allows the cr

A NEW police helicopter for Cambridgeshire has taken to the skies. The MD902 Explorer will cover the area across Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk.

The £3.9 million helicopter boasts highly-advanced technology. A cutting edge mapping system allows the crew to pinpoint locations with greater ease. The sophisticated Wescam camera system gives superior thermal imaging, providing clearer and more enhanced images to be sent back to the force control room. It also features a 30 million candle power searchlight, a public address system and digital video recorders.

Acting assistant chief constable Mark Hopkins said that air operations were a vital part of the police role in Cambridgeshire.

"The new helicopter can be utilised in many different ways, from searching for missing and vulnerable people, locating offenders and vehicle follows to surveillance, major incident planning and monitoring public order incidents."

The helicopter is able to carry eight rather than five people, the helicopter also provides extra capacity and can land in places that vehicles would find inaccessible. The force says this will be of invaluable help to organisations such as MAGPAS, helping to get emergency medical teams to incidents within minutes.

Michael Williamson, chairman of the Police Authority, said: "The Police Authority is delighted to have provided the funding for the new helicopter."

"We are sending criminals in Cambridgeshire the message that there is no escape when we have this kind of technology at our disposal.