Despite cuts to its budget, the Maryland State Police Aviation Command will not be forced to close any of its seven bases, the governor’s office announced today.
The announcement comes two months after the state Board of Public Works reduced the aviation command’s budget, which led to speculation that one of its bases might have to be shuttered.
Gov. Larry Hogan said in September that the cuts should not go forward, and he directed state police to work with state budget officials to ensure funding was available so that all bases would be fully operational.
The aviation command provides such services as airborne emergency medical transportation, law enforcement, homeland security and disaster assessment, and search and rescue missions. It has operated for 50 years and has flown more than 150,000 patients to lifesaving trauma care.
The governor’s office said that an independent study of MSPAC’s basing structure found that state police have a response rate of at least 95 percent and an ability to be on-scene within 25 minutes. Analysts estimated that closing one base would decrease the response rate to less than 83 percent and increase response time by eight minutes, the governor said.
— Avéon_Laine