The Foothill Air Support Team, otherwise knows as FAST, was developed in 1999 after several local cities expressed an interest in airborne law enforcement. Unfortunately, starting an airborne unit is very costly. These agencies chose to form a joint helicopter patrol operation that could enhance their ability to deter criminal activity and apprehend offenders.

The FAST progam has proven to be very successful. It is made up of the following 10 partner cities with Pasadena: the City of Alhambra, Arcadia, Sierra Madre, San Marino, South Pasadena, Monrovia, Covina, West Covina and Glendora. The City of La Verne joined FAST in 2007. In order to participate in this partnership, each agency has agreed to provide a qualified and motivated police officer to perform the role of observer. Following a rigorous training schedule, the new observer works alongside a Pasadena Pilot to serve the FAST cities.

The observer will monitor radio calls within the FAST cities and make a determination whether to respond with the helicopter. When it is determined that an airborne response would prove beneficial, the crew will respond and provide an aerial platform. This platform provides a tremendous level of intelligence, direction, and coordination to ground officers. When not responding to calls for service, the crew will constantly search out criminal activity and/or monitor problem locations.

Air Operations personnel will also fly surveillance missions for many of our investigative details and provide rapid transportation for our tactical and K9 teams during critical incidents.

The helicopter is effective due to quick response time and use of experienced officers as pilots and observers. Last year FAST responded to over 10,000 calls and was directly responsible for more than 600 arrests. The FAST fleet flew over 4,500 hours and the average response time was under 50 seconds.

The FAST helicopter fleet consists of two Enstrom F28F’S, one Bell 206 BIII, and two Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warriors. FAST is currently in the process of purchasing a MD 500 to add to the fleet.