in the north of England a wanted man is desperately trying to escape from the police like a bear a sore head when there when criminals get away from me but this driver hasn't yet got clean away above him is a police helicopter callsign Sierra Yankee nine-nine currently the most formidable weapon in the fight against car crime tonight on board with the sky cops as they crack down on car criminals once the aircraft is overhead you've probably got about a 95 percent success rate [Music] [Music] [Music] on the outskirts of Rotherham in South Yorkshire police cars are again on the trail of the man who's recklessly driving a stolen 4x4 he's wanted for stealing copper cable and driving was disqualified South Yorkshire police helicopter costs more than four million pounds it has a top speed of over 150 miles an hour and a crew of three a civilian pilot and two police observers from observers primary role is to use the camera systems on the aircraft to gain evidence so it's basically a camera operator the rear observer basically does everything else from a police perspective taking the details over the radios working out routes how to get there [Music] a lot of work to do when sometimes spontaneous incident something that happens with very little time to pre-plan you've got a lot to do in a very short space of time [Music] it is quite tiring mentally tiring on the ground the police are again losing ground this man is driving too fast too dangerous flying Yankee nine-nine today is Captain Glen Blake previously I was working as a commercial pilot and instructor doing various jobs flying business with me to be you as a pilot you need to be careful not to get drawn too much into the actual job on the ground your job is the other pilot and have a lot of things going on in the background but you're playing with the job is to fly the aircraft and that's what you did as the four-by-four goes offroad again the helicopter crew know they've got a real fight on their hands we have here [Music] and they're sure the wanted man is no longer trying to shake off the police cars he's realized the helicopter is on to him whether it could Harrah's or whether it could see her down now but obviously at some point became aware that it was being followed from the air if you like the desperate man doesn't know is that the farmer has put large stones all around his fields and his next move is not what the crew expect he's making a phone call were looking sort of straighten through the driver's-side door window and you could quite clearly see there was it was on his mobile phone probably trying to arrange for some of that's come and perhaps pick him up from his hand in place so there's only one reason he's on his mobile phone we're all getting chased by the police it was obviously not intending to stop [Music] by driving across fields like this the wanted man is confusing yankee nine-niner crew map reading is more difficult because it was always a fraud he couldn't get a sense of what he was doing because obviously there's no other road users things aren't going to plan the crew can't get the police cars into the positions they want Crafton there are schools where we want them so you very quickly have to assess where you are we can do it in seconds sometimes the difficult times are in the unfamiliar areas when things aren't quite going to plan despite their eh-2-zed problems yankee nine-niner crew are getting escape routes closed off the plan isn't working [Music] [Applause] by taking to the main road again the 4x4 driver has served notice that is confident he can outsmart his pursuers then the dates in their interest to escape isn't it'll to go to prison they can get away from the police they may well avoid spending a night in the cells the man's next trick is again offroad down a track where trains used to run [Music] maybe the bridges will acts as a shield we were able by a combination of using the camera system and and repositioning the aircraft to be able to sort of maintain contact with him even when he did hide under the bridges the 4x4 driver has gambled badly up ahead there's a dead end which only Yankee you could see the equipment that would go on the aircraft allows us in certain conditions to be able to see through vegetation there's a warm day it was giving off quite a lot of heat we were able to see him and keep contact with him and ultimately talk Bubba's into where he was after half an hour trying to escape in the stolen car and on foot the wanted man has finally run out of options it is very tiring if you can imagine sitting in front of the aircraft looking at a 6-inch camera screen when the aircraft's turning left and right getting higher and lower and dipping all around it's a little bit like trying to be on an October's ride and reader read a book or even newspaper [Music] [Music] Yankee nine-nine is based in Sheffield at the city's small airport [Music] which 3 3 good evening nothing to fix start the outside temperature just Tuesday for pilots and nine police observers work around the clock seven days a week the last sort of three four months the work seems to just increased really an average month would be something like 40 or 45 direct arrests that's where they unit and the aircraft and probably directly responsible for the rest of that person acting inspector Helenus carbon is the deputy head of what is known as the air support unit we generally get information at the by telephone call either directly from the officers on the ground or from Atlas car with the communications center and all the officers will shouters direct from anywhere in South Yorkshire the west location known is the local park reports are coming in about a missing person it's a life or death somewhere near the monster Parkway unfortunately we've not thought that much to go on over them features around that location there's no great description or anything else if somebody's asking for our help we will look at that and say well yes that is something we can do there's something we can assist with we'll go don't matter what is well more than happy to go fly and we enjoy flying it takes 3 or 4 minutes to get the krill into the aircraft and to be ready to lift generally fly about two miles a minute so what would take you 45 50 minutes to drive we can do in 12 minutes looking for missing people is an all too frequent task for South Yorkshire x' police helicopter it's a request the crew always dread [Music] there's the nature is I'd since I think about one o'clock public every description we're just looking for a female major is I those are our people knocking about the stacks down there someone intends to do self-injury or self harm to themselves they're not going to tell everybody where they're going or generally speaking they don't tell everyone where they're going so it's a very vague outlook and unless someone's quite sharp and give us a good description and we're looking for a needle in the haystack the crew haven't much time Yankee nine nine is wanted elsewhere can only appreciate you're already committed we do have another priority incident is a failed to stop it's a stolen car the red Honda Civic RPG but the crew aren't prepared to abandon their search for the missing woman yet there's always something that will dictate you which way you need to go any life and death emergency will always come first is there any update at my wise is any description of this Beamer we've gotten to quite a lot of people walking around this area we know the information were very sparse and I was quite negative I'll be honest in that respect obviously we don't really know what we're looking for other than a female Helen's Calvin is determined she believes there's still a chance of finding their needle in a haystack Roger what we have located is a female South Road look I would say very dejected [Music] we decided to direct some ground units to her and it transpired that that was the female that that we were looking for [Applause] you always I think more determined with with things such as missing people that's somebody's wife it's somebody's mom is somebody's daughter you know we want to be able to find them as quickly as we can the ground units no disrespect on that they wouldn't have found it and it would have taken perhaps all day or certainly the whole of the morning to actually locate where she was and it took us ten minutes so it was a good job now that the woman is in safe hands cierra Yankee nine-nine is free to join the hunt for the red Honda Civic it's being chased by PC Tim's Govan he knows who he's after and why we had a series of car thefts and street robberies over in the manor area Scheffel vehicle got shield onto an area the mother which I made my way the vehicle did get up and then just prior to me go there little as a polder only to listen akin and running off we started giving chase but 4-cyl delicata just come back from another incident perfect time and flew over my head literally and I've sat on the radio though that there on the on the field one one so we'll see a q99 PC scalp and is Helen Scotland's brother-in-law I was knowing haters in there luckily otherwise straight away it's a special kind of bomb the thieves are unaware that both scuff ins are now on their tail they didn't think that immediately followed they didn't realize that I had such a cross view across the fields because all the houses have been demolished so that I run my little legs off they were the sanella copter filming their film and everything caught on camera is one of the men acting as if he is an innocent member of the public out for a stroll and thankfully just as the officers on the ground were about to lose sight of them they picked them up on the camera so we followed them smoothly while the destination was Tims Govan has caught up and he too is now hot on their heels Tim got to the door in time went and entertained the first one the second one arrived got side to our land girl as soon as I got in it were trying to change his jumper in the toilet so I drove over him obviously pulled him out and it was arrested straight away while the arrest is going on at the front Helens Garvin and her crew are keeping an eye on the back and just as well it was quite enclosed at the back so and the aircraft not be no overhead we were probably never seen the person coming out the bad door seems one of these people that is always out there people would say is looking well yes it probably is looking but to be looking you've got to be out there doing your job and that's exactly what it is I feel a bit our breath I started to realize I'm not because I used to be but it's quite athletic good pitch as well obviously no I'm no uncertainty from my perception of the Espoo you knew that when they hear my voice when they hear me doing a comment you when they hear me in trouble the duel if they hear me in' and they go as Yankee nine-nine and to refuel pcs Govan has come to see his sister-in-law and take a look at the video of the chase across the fields and subsequent arrests these come bearing gifts every time I am an incident with the s port unit and they they film I need to look at the video first because I mean it's quite important because when you're racing across the street again the helicopter gives a different perception of what you do it's like if I'm in a film setting because there's no in there there's a pair of steps of all collapsed and then there's a crappy to us toilets like scenes from trains point they were horrific their sport obviously in that that instant was the crooks of camera never lies does the same or not get realize I'm not vintage improve it la you're not joking you're walking I'm jogging well rockin now what we're doing again long while the Scoggins consider the evidence a call is coming in about a stolen car can I hear assistance please with a fail to stop the stolen car is an Astra which drove off when the driver of a police armed response vehicle tried to stop it notice dis Astra it just needed to be stopped the meatus or is it looks absolutely petrified he looked at as and then looked away again and as I've gone to turn around in a pub turning area I looked in the rearview and it's just gone he's absolutely floored it yankee nine-niner crew are already on their way to gauge confirm that he controls which is why the Astra is being driven by a man beside him is a woman he's driving so fast and so furiously that PC bought will have to back off never worth taking it to the nth degree when the helicopters above yeah it is great which can just ease off and you know as much pressure to keep up with it we picked up as I was heading back into Sheffield and he at that point is my guess he didn't know we were there we were quite high here these windows shut he was just driving his concentrate on driving and and he kept on driving fast nobody behind them to keep on driving relatively fast he was always trying to get somewhat but weird police cars coming from all direction I just wasn't gonna stop unless you had to there's a sort of a huge difference between pursuits that take place in rural areas and pursuits that take place in urban areas and the concept of speed is is quite different 60 miles along a you know a rural country road is this far far different to sixty miles an hour through a residential Road with houses children parked cars and relax the driving that he was displaying made it quite clear to us that he was prepared to sort of take you know some quite extreme risks to get away from the following police cars and ultimately ours there's trouble ahead a bus is blocking the road the bus ever seen tomorrow's training perspective will come off I don't know two police cars behind them the dog van and a traffic car and he just doesn't come stock it's now clear that nine-nine is involved in one of the most dangerous pursuits the crew have ever seen looking at the video they were certainly on a night after 10:00 far they're dangerous how to walk pursuits have the helicopter not being there then it would have been a 10 from the start having eased off PC board has been given the job of setting the stinger trap I heard the world that was coming out after Sean at some time went nosed into a junction which was a safe site and tried to get the Stinger out in time it hasn't worked I hadn't even going to the boat before the cow was passing us so we're there now to reverse out onto the street and keep following us here [Music] it tends to be the case nowadays that people know when the helicopters are booked room there's no gain away usually but he just kept going and going no station to know why he was fleeing why wasn't stopping you'll hear the helicopter giving the speed so you'll hear the commentary from the officer giving the speeds you know 17 18 miles per hour when you're in the car down the thin roads and around the estate register Fitz takes a lot of concentration but when you see it on the video it just looks easy it looks just like toy cars running about commanders at police headquarters have decided that Yankee 99 must tell them what's happening from now on once again PC port & Co have had to back off and are following at a distance the fact that we were there means the police vehicles can concentrate on trying to be a little bit more strategic in their approach where they're not pushing and we're not egging him on if he chooses to sort of drive through ditches or drive through fences then that's his choice it's not something we're forcing him to do the chase has been going on for 20 minutes and it's getting more and more dangerous for the residents of the estate the stolen car is driving through [Music] well he was going down a narrow street I just pop his way around and there was no way it was not going to get past and he just forced his way past so I then puts an onus on his rail its Tran you know bring this man it's a successful detention but to get him into custody get him off the road and and hopefully stop him from driving like that the decisions been made stop the Astra by getting police cars ahead of him [Applause] the net is closing but the driver is becoming even more desperate sideswipe forces him into a plush shelter wrecking the front wheel they let me mop stick to the traffic light while foreground cops tried to subdue the driver PC bought deals with the woman passenger when I'd gone down the near side I was face to face with his girlfriend so my colleagues quickly got out and grabbed older the kid and I've called across the seats and got out and got the female out of the car that I'd felt stopped when I got allowed the cash was in absolutely Stoics she just kept saying I told him to stop at I'm just on the end of the chase was a shock for the Astra driver for the police it was textbook after planner with a member of public his hit a bus shelter which has disabled his car and he's then skidded down the road traffic cars gone to his off side another traffic cars went to the back to box the carry just as the drivers exiting trying to make a run for the thief's girlfriend is not the only hysterical person at the scene the man whose car was sideswiped bringing the pursuit to an end is none too happy either [Music] the driver of the vehicle whose Wimmera clipped off also obviously decided that he wants it is to penneth worth and you know and they sort of came down to try and vent explain if you like it a the offender as well strap sir [Music] during the past six months the police in South Yorkshire have recovered almost 1,900 stolen vehicles and arrested 501 disqualified drivers in four years I've been in our support the number of persons has declined greatly I think part of that is because of their support our crime still occurs cars are still stolen but the frequency is definitely reduced the driver of the white astra got three months with an additional two year driving ban the man arrested by PC Tim's governed in the deserted house got 12 months and the 4x4 driver got 12 months for driving while disqualified and dangerous driving I think your question are you service really from being a young beat officer you wonder why sometimes people do what they're doing why they do it [Music]