GRAND RAPIDS, MI — West Michigan is buzzing about the new helicopter patrols being flown overhead by Michigan State Police.

And some are wondering if the benefits from having these eyes in the sky are worth the cost and possible invasion of privacy.

"There's certainly a place for technology and helicopters in law enforcement," said Miriam Aukerman, an attorney for the West Michigan branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. "We want to make sure these patrols don't become Big Brother in the sky."

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The state police started regular patrols of West Michigan on April 1 and plan to continue them through the summer. The whirlybirds will fly over Grand Rapids and other communities two or three days a week for five to six hours.

"We're here to help," said Lt. Pat Lawrence, the chief pilot and head of the state police aviation unit.

Lawrence said the helicopter patrols are designed to assist local agencies with crimes in progress, spot unsafe situations, search for hiding suspects and missing children and assist with search and rescue operations.

As for surveillance, helicopters are not good at that.

"It's too loud," Lawrence said, adding that if a helicopter was hovering over someone's house, everyone in the neighborhood would know.

Aukerman worries that Michigan State Police have a different understanding of surveillance.

"If you're the sunbather in the backyard, you may not go inside if there is a helicopter overhead," she said. "It's really a question of a getting more information and of the government being more open."

Nationally, the ACLU has raised questions about police helicopter patrols.

stated that police helicopters "do raise privacy issues." The blog entry mentioned an incident in 2005 when a police helicopter in New York City tasked with monitoring a street protest instead focused its infrared camera on a couple having sex on a dark, rooftop patio.

The blog entry compares and contrasts the use of helicopters and drones. Auckerman said the West Michigan branch is concerned about the use of drones by police locally. Technology presents a "slippery slope," she said, first helicopters then drones. That is why it is important to make sure privacy protections are in place now, she said.

"We don't want to live in a Big Brother state," Auckerman said.

The West Michigan branch of the ACLU learned about the new helicopter patrols the same way many residents did, hearing them overhead and reading about them in the news, Auckerman said. The ACLU has many questions about patrols. For example:

What kind of surveillance cameras and equipment do the helicopters carry?

How will data collected be stored and provided to police?

Are there guidelines in place to protect people's privacy?

What communities are going to be patrolled? Will they be random patrols or will certain neighborhoods be targeted?

"We don't know the answers to those things, but I think our community should be asking a lot of questions and getting those answers," she said.

A 2012 study broke down the type of missions the Michigan State Police helicopters and airplane fly. Read the study here.

The state police have provided some answers. Each helicopter carries an infrared camera, a high-powered spotlight and a public address system, said Sgt. Jerry King, a pilot flying over West Michigan this week. The helicopters also have video cameras similar to dashboard cameras in police patrol cars. The helicopter cameras run when activated, King said.

The helicopters will not be targeting certain neighborhoods, Lawrence said. Pilots will fly general patrols and assist local agencies when needed.

The presence of the helicopters in Grand Rapids has already been noticed, both by citizens and police. On Thursday night, Grand Rapids Police officers called for Trooper 2 — the call-sign of the state police's Bell 206 helicopter — to help with the search for a possibly armed suspect in a neighborhood and to hover over a house where domestic violence was reported. Grand Rapids Lt. Theresa Budzilek said Thursday night the helicopter was already proving to be an asset for the officers on patrol.

On Wednesday, pilots assisted the Grand Rapids Police Department with a search for

and looked for

. The man, wanted on warrants for traffic violations and believed to be armed, was found hiding in a bush in Roosevelt Park and arrested. The two young brothers were found and returned home safely.

The pilots also keep an eye out for potentially unsafe situations, Lawrence said. While on patrol Thursday night elsewhere in the state, the department's second helicopter spotted a couple pushing a baby stroller down the middle of a busy street. The pilots radioed to officers on the ground to come to the area and check out the situation, Lawrence said.

The state police have two helicopters, a Bell 206L and a Bell 430. The Bell 206L is a single-engine helicopter that can carry up to three people and has a top speed of 115 mph. The Bell 430 is a larger, twin-engine helicopter that can carry up to seven people and has a top speed 145 mph. Both helicopters are based in Lansing and will refuel at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport while on patrol in West Michigan. It is a 20-to-30 minute flight to the Grand Rapids area, depending on the helicopter and conditions, King said.

Lawrence said the state police's two helicopters fly seven days a week if maintenance work allows. Most of the time, the helicopters patrol Detroit, Flint and Saginaw. The state police started patrolling Detroit in 2009 when the state and city entered into an agreement. The joint effort in Detroit has resulted in more than 200 felons arrested, according to

. Drivers in pursuits are arrested 100 percent of the time when a helicopter is involved, the study noted about the Detroit efforts.

"Grand Rapids is not Detroit by any means," Lawrence said. "(Helicopters) have proven their value in law enforcement."

The fiscal year 2013 budget for the state police aviation unit is $1.5 million, said Shanon Banner, a spokeswoman for the department. The figure covers salaries for pilots, equipment technicians and maintenance staff, fuel costs and operational expenses, Banner said. A further breakdown of costs was requested, but not yet available. Lawrence said the West Michigan patrols were too new to determine their cost.

It costs $684 per hour to operate the Bell 430 and $329 per hour to operate the Bell 230, according to the fleet study. The state police's airplane, a Cessna 182R, costs $100 per hour to operate. The study valued the Bell 430 at $2.4 million and the Bell 230 at $864,700.

The West Michigan patrols do not cost local agencies anything, Lawrence said. The state police had already budgeted money for helicopter patrols, and the move to West Michigan was a shift in resources.

— Contact Aaron Aupperlee at aaupperl@mlive.com or (616) 430-4820. Follow him on Twitter at @tinynotebook.