'Game changer': CPD debuts first new helicopter in 17 years just ahead of DNC

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - The City of Chicago unveiled its new top-of-the-line police helicopter Friday morning in advance of the Democratic National Convention.

The big reveal of the $11 million Bell 429 helicopter was in a Soldier Field parking lot. The chopper flew in over the lake, over trees and set down as Mayor Brandon Johnson, Police Superintendent Larry Snelling and other police and political leaders watched.

Snelling said  the chopper will be used to monitor the area around the Democratic National Convention but is also an added tool to help police on the ground catch carjackers and other criminals who are fleeing citywide. Snelling said he recently flew on the new helicopter.

“I’ve taken a ride in one of our older ones. This one is so much faster, smoother. New helicopter. You know how you have a new car smell? It had the new helicopter smell,” Snelling said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said the aircraft is the Chicago Police Department’s first new helicopter since 2007.

“By the end of the year, we plan to obtain two more helicopters, bringing CPD’s fleet to a grand total of four helicopters.”

Nineteenth Ward Alderman Matt O’Shea said the helicopter has everything police officers need to safely patrol from the air, providing air support and tracking criminals.

“This thing is a game changer for law enforcement and for combating crime in our city,” he said.

Snelling said the aircraft marks a new era for the police department’s helicopter unit, a first step in modernizing CPD’s aging helicopter fleet.

Snelling said the aircraft can cruise at 174 mph.

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