Sunday, August 15, 2010

Helicopter agency ‘valuable’ for police, expensive for Winnebago county

Jan Noble, Chief of Police, Belvidere (IL) Police Dept. is First Vice-President, the second highest executive for this non-profit. See:http://airsupport.org/.  Overall, this RR Star article appears critical of LEAC’s especially regarding its openness and transparency. Does anyone remember what happened to the surplus U.S.Defense Department helicopter which Boone County obtained through a grant?

Tax returns show that LEAC’s expenses outweighed its revenues in 2007 and 2009. It ended last year in the red by more than $46,000. In 2009 alone, the nonprofit spent $17,752.43 for fuel, $28,473 for insurance and $113,082.34 for repairs. LEAC officials declined to give the Register Star a complete list of its public and private donors and an accounting of all the law enforcement agencies it serves.

Winnebago County is one of the largest contributors to a nonprofit agency that provides helicopters on demand to law enforcement agencies in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
But the Law Enforcement Aviation Coalition has lost money two of the past three years, and Winnebago County officials say they don’t require the agency to document — nor do they know — how it has spent $370,000 in taxpayer dollars directed to it since October 2007

Click on the following for more details on this story: Helicopter agency ‘valuable’ for police, expensive for county - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

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