Pubdate: Sun, 25 Dec 2005
Source: Record, The (Stockton, CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Record
Contact:  http://www.recordnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/428
Author: Greg Kane

COPTER GOES TO HIGHEST BIDDER

Sheriff's Chopper Sells Online For $385,600

STOCKTON -- A 25-year-old helicopter purchased three years ago to 
fight crime in San Joaquin County was sold two weeks ago following a 
flurry of online bidding, county officials say.

A North Dakota-based resale firm paid $385,600 for the Hughes 500D 
helicopter after a two-week auction on a Web site, said county 
purchasing agent Cliff Baumer. Nine bidders drove up the price from 
$350,000 with 46 separate offers before the auction closed Dec. 15, 
he said. It had been appraised at $375,000.

"We did good," Baumer said Thursday. "We were quite happy about it. 
So was the sheriff."

The proceeds from the sale will go toward a task force that targets 
methamphetamine dealers and cleans up the drug-making laboratories 
often found across the county, said Assistant Sheriff John Drummond.

Deputies in the task force receive special training to handle the 
explosive and toxic substances found in meth labs.

"You can't just call in Sunrise Sanitation to throw away beakers that 
have been contaminated with these horrible chemicals," Drummond said.

The Sheriff's Office bought the helicopter for $400,000 in 2002 with 
a federal meth-fighting grant. The chopper was grounded earlier this 
year after the grant money could no longer support rising costs for 
wages, benefits and operations, Drummond said.

"A helicopter's a great law enforcement tool," he said. "But it's expensive."

Sheriff Bob Heidelbach said in August that the federal meth-fighting 
grant used to buy the helicopter and fund the task force was cut from 
$661,000 in 2004-05 to $476,000 this year.

In September, the county Board of Supervisors agreed to put the 
helicopter on the market. The auction on publicsurplus.com was 
supposed to end at 3 p.m. on Dec. 15, but a late surge in bidding 
drove up the chopper's price and lasted an extra 20 minutes, Baumer said.

"We were just sitting and watching them and having a great time," he said.

The helicopter's sale doesn't mean law enforcement won't have a 
presence in the sky. A Cessna 206 airplane purchased along with the 
chopper in 2002 will continue to be used for drug surveillance in the 
county, Drummond said.

And a nonprofit coalition of local police and fire officials has 
offered to contract with the Sheriff's Office for free helicopter service.

Stockton Metro Air Support Inc. recently agreed to assist six local 
fire agencies on an as-needed basis for river rescues, fighting fires 
and other search and rescue operations.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman