Police helicopter in scooter hunt

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/derbyshire/7670398.stm

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Police in Derbyshire have defended the use of a helicopter to track a stolen mobility scooter.

The scooter was spotted in Long Eaton by the owners on Monday, a week after it had been taken from outside shops in the town.

The helicopter and foot patrols were called in after the scooter and a suspect were seen going into a park.

Despite not locating either, the force maintained it was a sensible use of police resources.

Effective search

Officer John Jameson from the Midlands Helicopter Support Unit insisted they were right to take the incident seriously.

"We are talking about an 82-year-old man whose quality of life had gone down because someone had stolen his mobility.

"This thief might also have committed other offences so we wanted him caught and the best method of searching we have in the police in open spaces like parkland is the helicopter.

"Within 18 minutes we could say to the police on the ground that he was not there, the scooter is not there, you can go onto other duties."