The City of Hamburg’s police force has recently signed an order for two EC135s.

This move makes it the latest customer to use the light twin-engine helicopter for law enforce-ment missions.

In Europe alone, more than 55 of these helicopters are operated by law enforcement agencies. In Germany, these are the Federal Border Guard and – as soon as Hamburg receives its aircraft – six Bundesland state police forces.

This year, Eurocopter will also supply the first of three EC135s to the Romanian police force, thereby opening a strategic central market in Eastern Europe.

The chief of the Hamburg helicopter police Dietrich Schirmer told EBAN: “The selection of the helicopter sample was the result of an ‘advertisement’,”

“What happens is that the future buyer, in this case ourselves, publicly expresses the intention of wanting to buy a helicopter. They then communicate the requirements that they need met. Offers are received from owners or companies wishing to sell the product in question,” Schirmer explained. “The EC135 is flown on nearly all other police patrols in Germany, with positive results.”

Reportedly a number of companies responded to the ‘advertisement’, but the EC 135 was seen to be the best option.

“It is a modern helicopter of the new generation of aircraft, using digital technology,” said Schirmer. “Our current helicopters, BO 105s, are very old in comparison. They are over 20 years old,” he said. “We needed to replace the model – as maintenance costs have increased, they needed more frequent services and are prone to problems.”

The Hamburg police force hopes to take delivery of the aircraft in the third quarter of 2004.

“It will affect police operations a great deal, because it allows us to use digital tv picture transmission, improving the image quality,” reported Schirmer. The equipment also includes a forward-looking infrared camera.

They plan to use the new aircraft for traffic-clearing after large accidents, searching for missing persons, searching for dangerous offenders following aggravated robbery, theft or assault and aerial photography of the scenes of accidents. The EC135s will also be used in the transportation of police special units, the monitoring of the navigation on the Elbe and monitoring ways to ensure the protection of the environment, helping to clear up water pollution or oil spillages.

“We already have a team of professionals available to work on the aircraft,” said Schirmer.

Is Hamburg ready for the new police helicopters, we asked? “Hamburg citizens will probably hardly notice the new aircraft, because they will be substantially quieter than the old models,” he explained.

“The most noticeable thing will be the new colours of the aircraft,” he added, “from green, white and red to blue, white and red.”