New Jersey State Police Aviation Bureau

New Jersey State Police Aviation Bureau

Story by Siddhant Upadhyay

sidd_aviation

Published by Matthew Dawson January 26th, 2026

Photographs by sidd_aviation and jake_plane  unless specified otherwise

For more than five decades, helicopters from the New Jersey State Police Aviation Bureau have been an everyday, essential part of life in the Garden State. Whether it’s medevacing a critically injured motorist from the Turnpike or circling South Jersey’s Pine Barrens in search of a lost individual, NJSP and their aircraft and crews have become essential workhorses for public safety over the skies of New Jersey.

The Aviation Bureau can be traced back to 1969, when the State Police recognized that airborne support could, and was essential, to reach beyond what ground units alone could accomplish. What began as a handful of helicopters responding to crash sites along major highways soon grew into a full 24/7 operation, serving as a law enforcement, search and rescue, homeland security, and medevac force for the entirety of the state. The bureau now operates out of multiple strategic points throughout New Jersey, with KTTN, or Trenton–Mercer Airport in Ewing, New Jersey, serving as its operational headquarters.

One of the bureau’s defining missions has been medevac service through the state’s JEMSTAR program, formerly known as the New Jersey Emergency Medical Services Helicopter Rescue Program. JEMSTAR is a statewide partnership between the NJSP, the Department of Health, medical providers such as University Hospital EMS, and the New Jersey State Police. While the Department of Health oversees funding, it also manages the deployment of experienced flight paramedics and nurses who ride aboard NJSP helicopters. These aircraft are ready to be deployed 24/7, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Once crews medevac an individual, they are directly admitted, administered critical aid, and transported to major trauma centers across the state. NJSP also handles interfacility transfers and even organ deliveries where ground crews may not be able to reach in time.

NJSP helicopters are also vital tools for detection, crime identification, and the strategic coordination of ground troops, local police departments, and federal agencies. The AW139s flown by the bureau are equipped with sophisticated forward-looking infrared, or FLIR, sensors — a class of thermographic camera systems capable of detecting heat signatures at long distances. These systems allow crews to track and identify specific wavelength bands, enabling operators to see warm objects such as people, vehicles, and hotspots during darkness, light fog, or snow. This capability turns nighttime reconnaissance and search patrols into far more effective operations, while also providing ease of use for operators in the field. Systems similar to the Star SAFIRE family from Teledyne FLIR, or comparable EO/IR gimbal cameras seen on modern AW139s, provide stabilized high-definition visible and infrared imagery that crews can pan and zoom to locate hazards in the air, missing persons, or suspects on the ground. This overall sensor suite can turn an otherwise untrackable search area into one that is easily identifiable using heat signatures, allowing ground crews to be directed precisely where they need to go.

Beyond medevac and search and rescue, NJSP helicopters support everyday policing and homeland security work. They conduct surveillance flights over critical infrastructure, help coordinate with local police departments and agencies during high-speed pursuits on interstates, and provide aerial support for narcotics interdiction and traffic enforcement. In 2025, the New Jersey State Police logged over 1,000 missions of all types across their rotorcraft fleet.

The bureau is also in the midst of a generational shift. The long-serving Bell 206 Long Rangers, which have been reliable platforms for countless years and have supported some of the most important missions in New Jersey’s history, are slowly being retired in favor of additional AW139s. The AW139s provide modern electronics, increased payload, and a far more sustainable platform for medevac and tactical missions, primarily offering greater loiter time in congested areas.

Since 1969, the New Jersey State Police have monitored New Jersey’s cities, forests, and shorelines. As time progresses, they continue to upgrade their technology and readiness while upholding their core values of honor, duty, and fidelity.