The Tucson Police Department’s helicopters and airplane were cleared to fly Friday, after being grounded two weeks ago due to concerns raised by an outside audit, authorities said.
The air unit was grounded Dec. 23 after an outside audit determined the division to be operating at a high safety risk.
Sgt. Pete Dugan, a department spokesman, confirmed the issues had been addressed and the three helicopters and plane were cleared to fly.
“The areas of concern have been remedied and the unit will be fully operational as of 5 p.m.,” Dugan said Friday.
In 2015, complaints made by air support employees about the unit’s operation and policies were brought to the police chief’s attention, causing the department to request an external audit by the Airborne Law Enforcement Association, then-police Chief Roberto Villaseñor wrote in an email sent to city officials on Christmas Eve.
Villaseñor has since retired. The new police chief, Christopher Magnus, begins work later this month.
The audit report, which was completed in November, concluded the department needed to take any necessary steps “to neutralize what is perceived by an outsider as a toxic operational culture within the unit that goes beyond simple personality conflicts between individuals.”
“The situation that currently exists between parties constitutes what could be considered a hostile work environment for both sides,” the report said.
Assistant Police Chief Mark Timpf said the issues with the air support unit were related to policy language in the unit’s manual, not operational safety.
“Nothing was being operated in an unsafe manner. We have an impeccable safety record. But because of the risk that the audit found, we elected to pause things,” Timpf said last week.
Police officials have not explained the cause of the long-term dispute between the mechanics and pilots.
