thats a fairly old film (maybe at least 3-6 years old)
the comms between the helicopter “Oscar Hotel 88” (it had its own documentary film made about it in 1999!) and “NH” (“Nottinghamshire control”) sound like they are AM analogue (lots of hiss, crackles etc)
nowadays (you may have noticed this if you watch more modern crime reality shows) the radios sound are a lot clearer (like a mobile phone) – and often end with a “beep” at the end of each transmission (“airwave”, the new digital system)
and the footage is rather ropey quality…
Todays equipment is even more sophisticated and can zoom in even closer, although like any other camera , camera shake becomes an increasing problem at higher zoom levels..
Incidentally Surrey Police Authority recently (about 2003) used “dealing with raves” as a justification to purchase its own helicopter (instead of previously sharing two with the Met) – without the slightest murmur of protest from the local population
I’ve read that some police air support units also have a “fixed cost” deal where they just pay a certain lease cost for the aircraft and can fly it as much as they want without (at least on paper) having to worry about the extra fuel costs..
This means that its more likely to be deployed for such incidents as raves where TBH there isn’t a real danger to life (unlike a high speed car chase, or looking for a missing person)
Ironically though I’m sure they wake up more people than the rave itself, I lived in the RAF Benson flightpath when I was in Reading and “Xray Alpha 97” (Thames Valley helicopter, a once-regular sight at the Ridgeway) would always make a big noise over my head if I was at home when it was flying…
as for annoucements I was in Notts around 2004 for some rave and the cops did both the announcement and handed out sheets of paper to people with the CJA notice on them… (although they let us all go without too much hassle!)
