“The main reason we do so much patrol is for three reasons: suppress crime, assist apprehension of offenders running from ground units, and reduce liability for the agency by being the command-and-control platform during incidents,” Morris says. The unit tracks how often it is the first police asset on the scene, and it’s more often than one would think, he adds. On any given day the air patrol units can be first on scene as often as 40% of the time, as compared to being the second or third asset to arrive.