HCSO Confirms Low-Flying Helicopter Being Used in Illegal Cannabis Cultivation Investigation
Man in a helicopter over Redway. [Photo provided by a reader]
Local law enforcement agencies would not confirm the helicopter was related to enforcement efforts on their behalf.
After we published an article about the helicopter belonging to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, a commenter said they had witnessed a HCSO officer and a camera man exiting the helicopter in question when it landed at a vista point on Highway 299 yesterday.
With that information, we asked HCSO Public Information Officer, Samantha Karges if she could confirm the information and what the helicopter was being utilized for by the HCSO. Karges responded via email:
HCSO has an agreement with the Butte County Sheriff’s Office to utilize their helicopter asset for illegal cannabis cultivation investigation purposes. We are not conducting compliance checks on legal grows. This is specifically being used to investigate illegal cultivation operations.
Although Karges’ stated that the helicopter is not conducting compliance checks on legal cultivation sites, we have received reports of the helicopter circling legal cannabis farms.
Earlier: Law Enforcement Helicopter Circles Grows and Southern Humboldt Town Yesterday
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In a couple of months, there will be an article about the County’s budget shortfalls related to increases in cost across the board and how there will be major cuts to pubic services as a result. I don’t think anyone will go for the 0.5% increase in sales tax ever again.
its a shame everyone’s fallen for it so many times already. Cost of goods is already so high up here. Eureka sales tax is killer. And what do we get for it?
….Just like the ‘good ol’ days’. Those were a little stressful, adrenal pumping times, where growers could be satisfied, at least, to be rebels to the system, David to Goliath.
Listen to the Camo Cowboys band (The thrill of) ‘The Chase’ song. An insider’s nostalgic look back. (Here is a clip of the song via the monopolist biz amazon). https://music.amazon.com/albums/B01JD2CL16?trackAsin=B01JD28LNI&do=play&ref=dm_ws_dp_sp_bb_phfs_xx_xx_xx
Great song…
Thanks Ben…
Yeah trouble is I have only six tiny plants with a 215, and you scared my chickens and child, leave us alone please. Cannabis is worth nothing, the destructive growers left. I did not move to the forest to have helicopters hovering over me in my little organic medicine, veggie and fruit garden. This has to stop.
Didn’t Honsal just tell the economist that he “sympathized with drug war victims” and didn’t want to exacerbate their ptsd? It would be nice if that manifested in policy.
Amen to that. The fact they are still chasing around this plant in this day and age is offending. All this while they let our infrastructure crumble apart around our ears. Our medical system is a mess. Hunger and homelessness is the new normal. But we have plenty of money to go harass people growing a plant still… good show.
It’s like they don’t see the under age sex workers in gville and are unaware humco has walking dead roaming the streets 24/7. Anyone with eyes and a heart sees the real issue- all they see is a way to get more funding.
no they didn’t. I got shot at while hunting and got too close to a grow in the middle of no where
My friend lives next door to the biggest farms in the county and regularly sees permitted farm workers carrying AR 15s.
Shoot back.
“Shoot back” is a real crazy idea my friend. Chances are you will walk into a wall of return fire! Do you have a death wish?
As far as I am concerned the chopper and crew are a total waste of taxpayer money. The amount of illegal pot they will find along with some cash, drugs or a gun or two, won’t add up to enough to pay the crew and for chopper fuel. One thing that puzzles me is that not a single person(s) has shot down a chopper during these fly overs. I think it is just a matter of time before one is shot. Instead of loading up the pot they are going to need to call the County Coroner.
Yeah where are all the freedom fighters shooting at the Durn Guvmint! You must be new around here. That was the 70’s near dinsmore(ptsd viet vet) and 80’s (local mad river guy).
It took about 6-7 hrs for there to literally be hundreds of cops dozens of vehicles and a couple more choppers at the scene near dinsmore and they dragged the vet out in chains! Did state time.
Similarly the Mad River guy realized what he did and sobered up quick(meth maybe?) and went to the mad river bar to think it over. Of course he told everyone what he had just done and they said yup its on the scanner yer fucked! He drove to weaverville and turned himself in ended doing some years federal time.
BTW these were shots fired At the helicopetrs
(by mentally unstable hermit bachelors who only want to be left alone in the middle of nowhere not professional pot farmers) not actually hit and srsly very few civilians have the rockets that’ll take down a big chopper! A few rounds from the old 30-30 or 30.06 ain’t gonna do it unless you got extremely lucky.
Yup twas a while ago. Now it’ll never happen because all the really whacky ptsd viet vets have died off and the normal crazy locals are way too smart to draw that kinda heat for what?!? No one shoots at helicopters except in the movies from afghanistan pal.
The tail rotor is extremely vulnerable…That’s what the VC did with us in Nam…
That ain’t gonna happen twice! Eh, Joe
Unfortunately, it happened many times.
Born and raised here Smokey. Have lived in the hills for many years. I take offense to you calling our PTSD Vietnam Vets “whacky.” Many times, in the US choppers have been shot at and shot down. I gather from your comment that you DID NOT fight in Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq. For your lack of information on the subject choppers in Vietnam were brought down with .223 caliber rifles. I could go on and on, but it would fall on deaf ears I am afraid.
We don’t shoot at choppers no need. You are right their purpose vs results is minimal. This is mainly so butte can justify a 4 million dollar piece of equipment plus the crews pension and health care.
When they were full of goons back in the day totally different vs the national geographic/netflix type of usage nowadays. The growers could probably hear the cameraman screaming “closer,” lol.
Spot on. Never shoot at a helicopter…
It’s been a terrible waste of time and money since the helicopter attacks began in 1985…
I agree 100%.
No one in their right mind would shoot at a chopper. It’s not always a marijuana eradication team. More often than not it’s PGE electric grid inspection birds in an effort towards keeping shit safe from igniting a fire and consequential lawsuits that are sure to follow.
Early/ mid 80s down around Laytonville we were offered an opportunity to buy a SAM (surface to air missile) and launcher. I was young and it really felt like a guerilla war and actually considered it. My level-headed girlfriend put her foot down though and I passed…. Property is one thing but killing people- even CAMP cops- was always off the table. Those Hoopa warriors did it right when they destroyed the chopper that was parked overnight. Property damage and monkey-wrenching are a different category from killing people. And shooting down a chopper means killing somebody. If they are not shooting or bombing then you need to find a more creative way to stop them…
Democrats never saw a tax increase they didn’t like…”Tax the rich!” they declare on the campaign trail and the social media scene. But when it comes to legislating, Democrats show they don’t really mean it.
Most rich people are shielded from Democrats’ tax hikes. Even proud class-warrior Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says the rich she wants to tax does not include the highest income earners. Yes, that’s just as silly as it sounds, but it’s true.
Be a lot cheaper and safer to use drones.
10:20 PM Thursday,
Some kind of Helicopter just went over the same approximate area on Alderpoint Road/ Rancho Sequoia
Seemed to be descending…
Medevac?
Didn’t come from Redding though, which would be the normal medevac way…
Yep medevac.
Landed at the AP volunteer fire department.
I’ve been tracking fentanyl poisoning for the last 6 weeks.
In the last 42 days, 6,468 Americans died from fentanyl poisoning.
That’s the equivalent of 1,617 mass shootings.
For context, 7,000 US soldiers died in Iraq & Afghanistan.
Is this where our tax dollars should go—–>unregulated weed or fentanyl?
education is the only solution to that problem. but you call that indoctrination.
It’s been a multi-billion dollar industry the powers to be can’t control. It’s our plant, lol, lEt THe WaR rAGe!!! Happy Harvest✌
I enjoyed running from the helicopters more than I enjoyed going to the planning department to work on license
Sounds like you can run like a streak of light!
Ha ha!! True!
California: makes weed legal
California: terrorizes cannabis growers
You cant make this shit up
They legalized cannabis not weed. Free the weed love thy plant. Happy Harvest 2022 ✌
The HCDTF caught a kid in 2012 in my neighborhood with 2 guidance panels, and the cases minus the stingers… Funny.. and true… They left the cases and chips, gave dude 5 years for weed… Fast forward 3 years into his sentence and one of those stingers showed up at the cove 4th July lol. Good police work. Chimps.
Um its been circling virginia ave oroville as well it hovered about 5 feet obove the ground for a minute then left getting pretty close to peoples trailers and there dogs that were terrified due to being confined to there little space outside