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Why didn't police chopper search for suspects?

Not a day goes by when I don't hear vaguely interesting water cooler chatter emanating from Police Headquarters.

Not a day goes by when I don't hear vaguely interesting water cooler chatter emanating from Police Headquarters.

The big topic yesterday, naturally, was Officer Kevin Livewell, who was wounded in the leg during a confrontation with three heavily armed thugs in Kensington on Thursday. Much of the discussion focused on the hunt for two of the suspects and the disturbing fact that they were armed with potentially devastating assault rifles.

A smaller conversation inside the department focused on the police Aviation Unit, which did not take part in the search for the suspects Thursday night. Turns out this is something of a contentious issue.

Union folks and some department insiders swear that the helicopter was not used because some commanders didn't want to pay the pilot overtime. Other insiders and city officials say such an idea is ludicrous because budget concerns would never factor into an investigation into a police shooting.

Read the story here, let me know what you think.