RCMP say they are “amending” further training after complaints about a police helicopter in the Cloverdale area last weekend.
BC RCMP Air Services had been conducting annual training in the area over the past few nights, leading to some locals taking to Facebook and Twitter inquiring as to what was going on.
“They have been made aware of the complaints on social media about the noise and will be amending further training,” said Surrey RCMP Sergeant Chad Greig. “We will be going out with a post shortly explaining the same.”
Greig said he couldn’t “estimate how many inquiries we had. Safe to say multiple.”
Increase in helicopter traffic this past weekend in the Clayton area due to annual training being conducted by @BCRCMP Air Services. They have been made aware of residents’ questions and concerns.
— Surrey RCMP (@SurreyRCMP) January 21, 2019
On Twitter, @Toyoburn asked the Surrey RCMP what was going on, noting there had been a lot of talk about the choppers in the Cloverdale/Clayton area.
“On multiple occasions a helicopter is seen circling certain areas multiple times over and over at a low altitude,” the Surrey resident wrote.
Cloverdale resident Gabrielle Miller told the Now-Leader the helicopter has been in the area “on and off for while” but that she really noticed it Saturday night.
“Started early in the evening and continued beyond 1 a.m.,” she said Monday morning. “Same with last night. Just sounds like a helicopter but it flies very low, and circles the same area over and over again.”
Miller said she heard the chopper for more than six hours that night.
Then, again on Sunday (Jan. 20).
Miller said her father called non-emergency and was told it was, in fact, police in the area. Police apologized to her father, she said, and stated they’d received a ton of calls, she added.
When the Now-Leader first inquired with Surrey RCMP about the helicopter activity, Greig checked weekend duty reports and said there was no mention of Air One being in the area.
After demonstrating the complaints outlined on social media, pointing to locals saying RCMP had advised them it was, in fact, police in the area, Greig inquired with RCMP Air Services.
More to come…
