Besides the street map, what other special equipment is on board?
The FLIR [forward-looking infrared] is fantastic. We first got them in the late ’80s, and now we’re starting what would be considered the third generation of what’s available to the civilian market. The military systems are more sophisticated, but they cost over a million dollars. What we use is in the $150,000 to $200,000 range, and it’s great for what we use it for. If a person’s hiding under a stack of leaves, or leaning against a wall in a toolshed, or if a car has been driven recently, we can usually see a heat source. Sometimes a ground unit that has lost a car in a neighborhood will call us and we can see all the hot cars and point them out to the ground unit. Our searchlight is 30 million candlepower. We used to have telephones and I’m not sure we’re going to have them in our new aircraft. We could use the phone to call the people who called the police and get more details on the suspects. We have a dual radio system and each radio can access every frequency used in public serv
