BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Members of the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office aviation unit took a brief detour on Oct. 10, flying into neighboring Bradford County and landing its helicopter behind Bradford Middle School and North Florida Technical College for the benefit NFTC’s eighth-grade Criminal Justice class.
Bradford County Sheriff’s Deputy David Bukowski, who teaches the class, told students, “Basically, what I’m trying to do is just show you the different aspects of law enforcement other than getting in a patrol car and just going out and chasing bad guys. There are other things that you can do once you do your time in your patrol car that you can put in for.”
Representing the ACSO aviation unit were Chief Pilot Richard Bray and Lead Tactical Flight Officer Scott Caley. Bray, a former law-enforcement officer who now works for ACSO as a civilian pilot, described his and Caley’s duties, saying, “The tactical flight officer is responsible for the law-enforcement mission. The pilot is responsible for getting him wherever he needs to be to do his job safely.”
Caley said, “My responsibility is to work the radios, work the cameras and communicate with the pilot on where we’re going or how I want him to set up an orbit to give me the best advantage for looking for whatever we’re searching for.”
Bray said the aviation unit’s primary job is observation as part of such missions as locating missing suspects or missing persons in general. He said the unit had recently participated in a search for a missing 1-year-old and may be involved in searches for missing elderly people, such as those with Alzheimer’s.
The unit may also deploy SWAT-team members out of helicopters for tactical missions and transport K-9 officers injured in the line of duty to UF Veterinary Hospitals for treatment.
“Pretty much the only thing we don’t do is clock speeders out on the highway or transport people to the hospital,” Bray said.
Unit helicopters have mounted cameras that can capture images in the daytime and, through infrared technology, nighttime.
“We’re able to read a license plate at 1,600 feet,” Bray said. We’re able to do facial recognition from 2,000 feet. It’s a very, very sophisticated, expensive camera system. There’s more value in that camera than in the whole helicopter.”
In discussing the camera’s infrared capabilities, Bray said it can detect differences in temperature to one-10th of a degree. It can be used to determine the type of clothing a person is wearing (whether they’re wearing short or long sleeves, long pants or shorts, etc.) of if they’re wearing eyeglasses.
Bray said the unit has a mapping system that it can overlay onto a video image, adding, “It has every address in the state of Florida.”
As an example of why the ACSO would need addresses outside of Alachua County at its disposal, Bray said it would be helpful for ACSO personnel providing assistance in areas affected by a hurricane, where street signs and house addresses get blown away or destroyed and where houses are damaged or destroyed.
When it comes to normal day-to-day duties, the unit acts autonomously for the most part. Caley said helicopters are equipped with computer-aided dispatch systems so that aviation-unit members can monitor calls.
“I can pick and choose where we go,” Caley said. “When a call comes up of interest, we’ll go.”
Bray answered a couple of questions asked by students, including those related to the helicopter’s speed and fuel usage. He said the helicopter burns fuel at a rate of approximately 25 gallons per hour, while its maximum speed is 100 knots, or approximately 90 miles per hour. The helicopter could normally travel at a speed of approximately 130 miles per hour if not for the camera mounted on its front, Bray said.
The minimum requirements for pilots in the ACSO aviation unit are to have a commercial-pilot rating and an instrument rating, Bray said, adding that ACSO doesn’t provide check rides, which are the examinations for those ratings.
“We want to see a little bit of investment from the person in their career,” Bray said.
Bray went through flight training in the early 1980s simply because he was interested in learning how to fly helicopters.
“Because I already had my rating, I got hired right into an aviation unit after about seven years of patrol with another agency down south,” he said. “I’ve been flying full-time ever since.”
Caley, who’s been with ACSO since 2000, worked “the road” for nine years before applying for the aviation unit. He did part-time work in aviation at first while still working full-time in road patrol. Caley has been working full-time in aviation since 2017.
The Criminal Justice students basically experienced an out-of-the-ordinary show-and-tell, which culminated with them pulling out their phones and capturing the moment as Bray and Caley flew away.
Bukowski teaches a total of six Criminal Justice classes, with the other five consisting of high school students.
