What is the National Police Air Service (NPAS)?

A nationally managed, regionally organised service to deliver vital air support to forces locally. It operates under a National Collaboration Agreement covering all the police areas in England and Wales.

The focus of NPAS is to deliver a more cost effective service, balancing the need to save money in a challenging economic environment against the need to ensure the police service has a quickly deployable asset that can be used to tackle crime and protect the public.

NPAS will ensure that essential air support continues to be delivered where it is required; ensuring that confidence in the service remains high. It will also be able to make use of a number of aircraft within each region meaning that the police service’s response will, in many cases, be enhanced over current provision. NPAS will be a truly national (England and Wales) policing service that will be at the heart of improving public safety. It will bring improvements in operational efficiencies and allow for the introduction of innovative contracts that offer better value for money for the service and the tax payer.