Dear New Zealand Police,

I would like to request information as to why the police helicopter flies around in the early hours of the morning, most nights, it seems since the beginning of level 4 (April 2020).

I would like to know this for the following reasons;

I understand helicopters are very expensive to run, and given it is a police helicopter, is funded by the taxpayer.

Helicopters are very noisy and it seems many people - including myself, are being kept awake at night.

The helicopter takes a route in which it passes over the house in which I reside at least 3 times each night. It seems to be unnecessary. Unnecessarily keeping people awake and more importantly, unnecessarily spending copious amounts of taxpayer money to run given the current economical state our country is in as a result of the damage this Covid-19 virus has created.

I would also like to know how much taxpayer money has gone into the running costs of the helicopter during these hours in total since the beginning of level 4

Kind Regards,
Matt Shepherd