Did a Stanislaus Sheriff’s pilot misuse the agency’s helicopter? Here’s what we know
On March 29, a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office pilot flew an agency helicopter down to about 250 feet, sounded the aircraft’s siren and waved to playing children in a neighborhood near Sherwood Park in Modesto.
The very loud sound of a low-flying Sheriff’s Office helicopter circling the neighborhood — apparently a common occurrence according to residents — led some to believe deputies were searching for a suspect in the area.
But the Sheriff’s Office stated there was no need for the neighborhood’s residents to worry. This flight in particular was not responding to any calls for service.
“There has been no threat to public safety or anything out of the ordinary going on. Our pilots are allowed to fly below 400 (feet) and sometimes they do,” said Sgt. Veronica Esquivez, a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, in a text message to The Modesto Bee. “If people are outside they’ll wave at kids and things like that.”
Federal Aviation Administration rules show helicopters can fly as low as they want, as long as the aircraft flies “without hazard to persons or property on the surface.” The pilot also cannot fly in “a careless or reckless manner” that threatens life or property.
Max Trescott, a Master Certified Flight Instructor and host of the podcast Aviation News Talk, said that while the flight may have been legal, there are a lot of other issues as well. Trescott explained that at a low altitude, especially over a residential area, there isn’t much time to react if there’s an emergency. At 800 feet, Trescott said, a helicopter can be “on the ground in less than 30 seconds” if the engine fails.
“If I were running the aviation unit, I would look into it and be asking the pilot the circumstances of that flight and how we happened to be so low,” said Trescott.
When asked for the names of the pilots flying on March 29, The Bee was directed to the agency’s records division.
In the weeks prior to March 29, the same aircraft — a Sheriff’s Office’s Bell 407GX — flew over the same neighborhood several times, around, or sometimes below, 600 feet, according to publicly available flight data.
The Sheriff’s Office stated that its pilots “are well-versed in FAA laws and regulations” and that its air unit “engages in positive community interactions, similar to deputies on patrol” but that it does not “track how often these interactions occur.”
“If residents see our Air Unit in the area, we welcome positive interactions,” said Esquivez in an email to The Bee.
Past helicopter controversy
In 2014, a civil grand jury said it was OK for the Sheriff’s Office to use its helicopters for community engagement events, but that it needed a clearer policy.
Complaints were made when a ride in a Sheriff’s Office helicopter was used as an auction item to benefit a local hospice organization. The agency had also used a helicopter in a golf ball drop to raise money for outdoor education programs in 2013.
The grand jury recommended that a specific policy be written defining the use of the sheriff’s resources, such as helicopters, for non-law enforcement activities, no matter how charitable or beneficial they were.
Stanislaus County rejected the grand jury’s recommendation and did not set boundaries for the use of Sheriff’s Office helicopters or other county-owned equipment. The Board of Supervisors at the time stated that it “allows some limited flexibility to the elected sheriff in determining what are proper law enforcement activities.”
With regard to the low-altitude flight on March 29, Esquivez stated that “Sheriff (Jeff) Dirkse is aware of and supports these efforts and trusts our pilots based on their training and experience.”
This story was originally published April 6, 2026 at 3:53 PM.
