What do they really accomplish? I did it some as a volunteer pilot for a county sheriff and all we did was burn gas and money. Don't tell me it's a deterrence, because it's not. The cost vs. the return is horrible. Let's just stop this crap.

one person in the helicopter that's not getting paid is a very small percentage of the cost of running that machine.

aircraft cost- not free

maintenance- not free

hangar- not free

fuel- not free

tactical officer- not free

insurance- not free

You fail to disclose the definition of "Local".  Does the sleepy town of 10,000 warrant the need for a helicopter? Even that depends on the condition of the town.  But when your local mostly peaceful demonstrators don't have enough buildings to burn and they begin to run either on the road or between buildings, perhaps an eye in the sky may be beneficial.  Sure, you could use a drone but even those have drawbacks.  Also, do not forget that there can be periods of time where illegal activity levels experience a quiescent period.  With that do you reduce your force as well?  

and it's all a waste of money

in America 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the time

With your logic, lets stand up a unit once the need has been met as opposed to being ready.  Might as well shut down the Fire Departments until a house is on fire.

as I already said, my logic is that the helicopter serves no useful purpose in law enforcement. you essentially proved my point when all you could come up to justify them was some idiotic scenario of chasing around rioters between buildings every few decades. maybe there is somebody that's not a moron that has a real reason to justify them, but I doubt it

"Yep, they're still down there rioting!"

never applied because most of the time you need to be a cop and even if if you don't,  the pay is always crap. still waiting for a reason to have them other than chasing rioters when they run between buildings 

flying around doing nothing but flying around wasting money.

Since you obviously have plenty of time on your hands, go over to YouTube.  Plenty of examples of bad guys getting caught, missing people being found and lots of car chases with LE helicopters.  Your experience as a volunteer with the local LE in what a 58 (?) isn't the entire LE world.  Keep applying, I'm sure someone will hire you eventually. 

fly around and do nothing 

go watch youtube videos. lol

lot like the cost of 47.  Watch and see.

You have to remember how it all started.  Lots of military surplus aircraft back in the 60s and 70s, LE and FD began to acquire them basically free, and created aviation units to help with the ground units.  Over time, aircraft became obsolete, parts hard to come by, but air units had become established and popular so they continued with used and sometimes new airframes.  If a police or fire department didn’t have a helicopter it was behind times.  If a hospital didn’t have a helipad to receive or send patients by air, they were 2nd rate.  Sure, todays technology with drones in many cases could replace expensive helicopters, but it’s difficult to let go