It appears the Winnipeg Police Service may consider grounding its helicopter.

Police Chief Devon Clunis declined Thursday to publicly commit that Air1 will continue operating, as the city continues its 2016 budget process.

“I can tell you it’s here right now, but just like with anything else that happens in policing, we always have to be evaluating, so that decision will be made sometime down the road,” Clunis told CJOB on Thursday.

No specific date has been set for the city’s full budget to be released.

Premier Greg Selinger said there aren’t plans to cut provincial funding for the chopper, which covers its annual operations, and that change would only occur if police requested it.

“We’ve funded it up to now (because) they’ve told us it’s an important service. If they want to make any change in that, we would certainly open up that dialogue with them,” said Selinger.

Provincial justice critic Kelvin Goertzen agreed the chopper has been a valuable tool for police, which allows them to better track suspects and provides them cover on the ground.

“It is an important tool and we’ve seen situations where it has been very useful,” said Goertzen. “The question of whether the cost benefit is worth it ... those are discussions I’d like to have with the police service.”

The city paid $3.5 million to buy the helicopter, while the province spent $1.5 million to fund Air1’s operations in 2013.

joyanne.pursaga@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @pursagawpgsun