Early Adopter


OCSO has utilized aviation assets to support law enforcement activities for more than a half century, with the organization’s first aircraft being an airplane used for patrol in the 1950s. It was not until the mid-’70s that the growing unit began to fly helicopters. Like many other law


48 May/June 2023


enforcement agencies across the country, OCSO took advantage of U.S. military surplus helicopter programs that put Bell OH-58 turbine helicopters into service throughout the 1980s and ‘90s.


In 1997, OCSO made the decision to transition to certificated helicopters and purchased one of the first 407s produced


by Bell Helicopter. Since then, the agency has purchased several B407s and to this day it operates three of them alongside one B206L-4.


It’s worth noting that the unit still operates a fixed-winged aircraft, utilizing a Cessna 206 Stationair for higher-altitude, extended-surveillance missions.


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