Are the police hovering because the overtime opportunity was too good to miss?

• POLICE helicopters are “monitoring” a climate change protest which is scheduled to go on for two weeks. So presumably we are going to be plagued by this infernal racket every day, all day, for two weeks.

How necessary is it for the police to hover over these people permanently anyway? What exactly are they doing apart from sit around? Or is it just another overtime opportunity too good to miss?

There appears to be no oversight of police helicopter activity at all. Everyone I have written to – the Mayor’s Office, the Police Air Service, the Civil Aviation Authority and others – all pass the buck to each other.

Does anybody even know who is responsible for this (if anyone) and whether they can be required to justify it in terms of crime reduction, value for money and environmental impact?

MARTIN KENNEDY
Brewer Street, W1