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Copter grounded to save overtime? Baloney, city says

There was a whiff of controversy in the air yesterday over the Police Department's Aviation Unit, which did not take part in the search for two men after a cop was shot in Kensington Thursday night.

File photo of a Philadelphia Police helicopter making a pass over the Ben Franklin Bridge. (photo / John Costello)
File photo of a Philadelphia Police helicopter making a pass over the Ben Franklin Bridge. (photo / John Costello)Read more

There was a whiff of controversy in the air yesterday over the Police Department's Aviation Unit, which did not take part in the search for two men after a cop was shot in Kensington Thursday night.

The discussion might sound a bit like inside baseball - because, well, it is - but the issue boiled down to two sides.

On one side, police union officials and other sources claimed that department brass did not want a police helicopter to join the search because the pilot would have had to be paid overtime.

(Mayor Nutter announced this week that he was cutting $6.3 million from the police overtime budget.)

On the other side, city officials and other sources said the accusation was bogus, that the commanders on the ground simply didn't need a helicopter to hunt down the thugs who shot Officer Kevin Livewell in the leg on Water Street near Indiana Avenue.

"You had the highest priority call - an officer down - and one of our most valuable technological resources wasn't available due to budgetary reasons," said John McGrody, vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5.

Livewell, 30, was shot about 8:30 p.m. About a half-hour later, a helicopter pilot showed up at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, where the Aviation Unit is based, and offered to join the search for the three gunmen who fired at Livewell and his partner, police sources said.

The pilot even offered to fly for free, but was told not to, the sources added.

Everett Gillison, the city's deputy mayor for public safety, said that version of the events simply wasn't true.

By the time police commanders considered whether to use the Aviation Unit, Livewell was already being treated at Temple University Hospital, one suspect was in custody, and police believed another was about to be apprehended, Gillison said.

As of last night, two men were still on the loose.

But given how things looked Thursday night, "the decision was made operationally that it really wouldn't have added anything just to have flying up there without any direction," Gillison said.

"Money never came into play. I have my suspicion that whenever people don't get their way, ... people will say this must be a money issue."