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Sheriff defends grant-funded helicopter program, disputes '$3,000-an-hour' characterization
Summary
Sheriff Mark J. Daniels said the county's helicopter program is fully grant-funded and provides search-and-rescue, SWAT support and oversight across Cochise County, and he called a recent board comment suggesting a $3,000-an-hour flight rate "misleading."
Sheriff Mark J. Daniels told KWCD listeners that Cochise County's helicopter program is provided through a third-party company and said it is "100% grant funded" so "the county pays nothing. It pays not a penny." He described the program as inclusive of pilots, fuel, maintenance and other costs.
The sheriff said the program flies missions that include search-and-rescue, oversight during search warrants and SWAT operations, and support for deputies in remote parts of the county. "We fly missions. We do some prevention stuff too. We oversee on search warrants... 87 hours in 3 months," he said, calling that usage "standard."
Daniels said the county pays an "installment of 340,000" to the company that runs the program, and he pushed back on comments made at a recent board meeting that suggested the program costs "$3,000 an hour." "The comment at the board... was it cost 3,000 hours. $3,000 an hour to fly the helicopter. It's the entire program that flies, not just, you know, to fly the helicopter. So either way, it was very misleading," he said.
The sheriff described the helicopter as an asset in rural Cochise County—the 30th-largest county in land area in the U.S., he said—where deputies and border teams operate in mountainous terrain and need aerial support. He said the helicopter has supported search-and-rescue operations (including a recent missing-person case found safe) and assisted SWAT operations that removed a suspect charged with offenses against children.
Daniels also cited a separate case reported by Yuma County in which a helicopter was fired upon and said local prosecutors were pursuing charges at the county level; he said such incidents underscore the risk faced by air crews and ground teams.
The sheriff said the county cannot afford to own and operate a helicopter and that the current arrangement provides oversight for public safety at "no cost of the taxpayers here to make sure that if there's an issue, a lost child, or rescuing somebody... we have that resource in a rural county." He asked that public comments about the program's cost be framed with more detail.
Carol Kappas, Cochise County public information officer during the broadcast, and Grady Butler, the host, asked the sheriff to clarify program funding, flight hours and mission types during the segment. Daniels said the program has been operating for two years and that the county's arrangement is intended to give deputies aerial coverage without the capital and operating costs of owning aircraft.
The sheriff's statements did not include a complete breakout of grant sources, the identity of the company running the program or the total multi-year program cost; those details were not specified in the broadcast.
