Victoria Police Air Wing celebrates 50th anniversary: Thermal imaging, night vision goggles helping cops catch out crooks

Military-style night vision goggles and thermal image cameras are helping the Victoria Police Air Wing nab about 1000 fleeing criminals a year, with the fleet notching up 50 years of fighting crime from the sky.

Hardly anyone escapes the hi-tech gaze of a police chopper – whether they want to or not.

Offenders on the run, missing persons and people desperate to be rescued from the perils of rugged terrain all appear as the same, white light leaping out from the surrounding black and grey space filled by the dead of night through thermal imaging and night vision goggles on board Victoria Police’s air wing helicopters.

Subjects are even easier to spot during daytime patrols and rescues with the state-of-the-art cameras fitted to the chopper’s exterior.

The current fleet has come a long way since its first single fixed wing plane took off during a trial 50 years ago.

Footage from the Air Wing shows suspects jumping from a car in Coburg.

About 1000 offenders now try, and fail, to outrun and out-drive the watchful eye of those advanced lenses every year.

“We are now flying with night vision goggles and thermal image cameras that 10 years ago, only the military would have had access to,” veteran tactical flight officer Sergeant Jim Stafford says.

“With this aircraft, the camera can lock onto a target just at a push of a button, so we’re now far more effective and far more efficient because we are taking out a lot of the guesswork.”

Sergeant Jim Stafford has been a tactical flight officer for 25 years. Picture: Ian Currie

When the fleet isn’t chasing the teenage car thieves leading officers on the ground on a wild suburban chase, locating missing persons or pulling people to safety becomes a life or death matter.

“The search capability using this technology is just lifesaving,” Sergeant Stafford says.

“Finding missing children and missing elderly people is particularly rewarding.

“Not only is it getting them back home safely and giving the families that reassurance that we’re out there doing that job, but it also saves time and effort or having to have hundreds of people out on foot in the dark in dangerous conditions.”

With 25 years in the Air Wing under his belt, Sergeant Stafford is one of 38 tactical flight officers part of the Air Wing unit, which now has 14 pilots on call.

In February, he was among the emergency crew that winched 43-year-old Stoj Jovevski to safety in the Cathedral Range State Park.

The technology on board is “lifesaving,” Sergeant Stafford says. Picture: Ian Currie

The Point Cook man suffered major back and wrist injuries that left him unable to walk when he fell 6m while hiking with friends.

The chopper rescue took six hours, and Sergeant Stafford said it would have been impossible to stretcher Mr Jovevski down the steep terrain.

A paraglider several years ago was lucky to be found alive after a chance sighting from above in the police helicopter located him outside the planned search zone.

The chopper fleet has been central to rescuing stranded Victorians during the devastating disasters, including the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires and the 2019-2020 fires, as well as the floods in 2022.

In 1988, it was called in to rescue those trapped in severe storm weather during the fatal Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race that killed six sailors.

“We can assist with recovering people from fire fronts. The other critical role that we fulfil is to deliver special supplies to people in remote stranded locations,” Sergeant Stafford says.

“In the recent fires, we delivered satellite phones and water and food and medical supplies, which saved people having to try and drive through dangerous areas with fallen trees.”

Sergeant Stafford with pilot Simon Barton and tactical flight officer Emily Faulkner. Picture: Ian Currie

In 1975, it was a novel idea for Victoria Police to have its very own pilots and aircraft at their disposal, and one that would make the force the first in the country to have its own flight unit.

Back then, officers had to thumb through the pages of a hard copy Melways from the back seat to steer the pilot flying the plane.

Members of Victoria Police’s Aero Club spearheaded the fleet after Sergeant Daryl Boyce Knight formed the club in 1968.

The police air wing in the early days.

Senior officers Mick Miller and John Salisbury, a former RAAF WWII pilot, saw potential in policing from the air and the force hired its first pilot after a successful pitch to the state government.

Inspector Neville Balding would become the first officer in charge of the Air Wing, and Sergeant Knight served several terms in the same role throughout his career.

Mr Miller, who became Chief Commissioner in 1977, ordered a new twin-engine Aérospatiale Dauphin in 1979 that was first used to transport officers to jobs more quickly before it took on ambulance duties.

The current fleet has come a long way. Picture: Ian Currie

Between the 1980s and 2020, the fleet acquired several other Dauphins and Eurocopters before they were replaced with three Leonardo AW139 helicopters and a Beechcraft King Air 350ER.

The new fleet has responded to more than 47,000 jobs and helped arrest more than 4700 offenders.

Some things, however, never change.

The modern fleet still uses the Melways.

But these days, the historic and nostalgic namesake makes up the software of the choppers’ digital directories.

Originally published as Victoria Police Air Wing celebrates 50th anniversary: Thermal imaging, night vision goggles helping cops catch out crooks