St. Paul, Minnesota

At the March 19 anti-war protest at the Minnesota capitol building, we posted a photograph that was a little joke about a black helicopter flying over the protesters. Since then, with the power of zoom and google, the following information has been found about our curious friend called helicopter N854WS.

"...Law Enforcement Aviation Coalition (LEAC), which provides no-cost air support services to law enforcement and fire service agencies throughout the region. Known by their familiar air-to-ground call sign, "Air-One", LEAC helicopters are frequently called out by local agencies who would otherwise not have airborne capabilities available."

"N854WS is a privately owned Robinson R-44 Raven II helicopter. N854WS has also been equipped with a variety of law enforcement equipment to support its role within the LEAC fleet... All aircraft, when operated for LEAC missions, regardless of ownership status, are crewed by members of the Law Enforcement Aviation Coalition, whom are all sworn law enforcement personal or employed by a public safety agency that is a member of the Law Enforcement Aviation Coalition."

It could be that a helicopter that just happened at one time to be used by law enforcement just happened to be circling the Minnesota state capitol building that day. Or it could be that a law enforcement agency was observing the anti-war protest from a helicopter - which really was a "black helicopter".