… Michigan Man Arrested

A 52-year-old Michigan man has been arrested for allegedly shining a laser pointer at the pilot of an in-flight Michigan State Police helicopter. The incident occurred on the night of Saturday 28 October 2023 in the vicinity of Detroit—glimmering jewel of the Great Lakes region and pride of all Michiganians.

The suspect was filmed in the act of twice lasing the patrol helicopter with a green laser pointer before ducking into a bar. The helicopter’s pilot alerted police personnel, whom he directed to the Rosa Parks Boulevard bar into which the perpetrator had fled.

Referencing the helicopter’s surveillance equipment, the airborne crew was able to determine the offending individual was wearing, curiously, a top hat and a jacket. Officers quickly located the culprit and placed him under arrest.

First Lieutenant Mike Shaw set forth in a statement: “It’s not often we see suspects walking around in top hats, but it did make him easy to identify. We can’t stress enough how dangerous it is to point lasers at any aircraft. We will continue to track down those who do this in order to keep our pilots safe.”

Following his arrest, the hooligan was remanded to the loving care of the Detroit Correctional Center, where he’s to remain, at the state’s pleasure, pending certain key decisions by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.

The number of reported instances involving the aiming of lasers at U.S. aircraft hit a record high in 2021—rising 42-percent over the previous year to a deplorable and worrying total of 9,273 incidents.

The FAA puts forth in both regulation and public announcements that intentionally aiming lasers at aircraft poses a safety threat to pilots and violates federal law. “Many high-powered lasers can incapacitate pilots flying aircraft that may be carrying hundreds of passengers," the agency asserts—albeit to insufficient effect.

The FAA loudly trumpets its authority to issue fines of up to $11,000 per laser-related violation; yet in 2021 the agency levied a scant $120,000 in such fines—a sum that represents less than 0.12% of the $102,003,000 that might have been collected had every reported laser-crime perpetrator been arraigned.

The lack of actionable arrests and indictments belies the existence of a software visualization tool created by the FAA to compile and analyze aircraft laser-strike data from 2010 through 2021. The tool ostensibly identifies and categorizes laser incidents by geographic area, per capita data, and time of day and year. What the agency is doing with the data gleaned by subject tool remains a mystery. The FAA alleges, however, that its personnel "… work closely with other federal agencies and state and local governments to report and investigate incidents, help apprehend suspects, and advocate for the prosecution of offenders."

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) states the FAA "… does not consistently share collected information with law enforcement," and noted an interagency group comprising the FAA, FBI, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—which has regulatory authority over laser devices—was dissolved in 2015.

Michigan State Police Sergeant Cole Martin, who's been lased a total of ten-times over the three-years he’s flown the department’s helicopters, stated: “As it hits our cockpit windshield, it illuminates the entire cockpit and under either night-vision goggles or the naked eye, it can be blinding for a temporary time.”

FMI: www.laserpointersafety.com