Air Support Directorate (Lower Mainland Constabulary)

The Air Support Directorate is one of eleven directorates of the Lower Mainland Constabulary (LMC). While its primary purpose is to provide air support to the patrol and emergency response operations of the constabulary, all other aviation units are part of the directorate, regardless of their primary purpose. For example, the Lower Mainland Constabulary owns and operates two Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft for important executive transport, as well as a single McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 for logistical purposes, both of which are operated by pilots of the Air Support Directorate. The Air Support Directorate has a total of 18 operational aircraft: 9 rotary wing (helicopters), 6 fixed wing (airplanes) and 3 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles/drones).

All LMC pilots are civilian personnel and thus fall under the civilian hierarchy; pilot cadets (trainees) and qualified pilots are ranked at the first tier (clerk), pilot instructors as well as police aviation/air support coordinators the second tier (secretary), while the third and highest tier (director) is reserved for the civilian commander of the directorate (Director of Air Support) and his deputy (Deputy Director of Air Support). The 1st and 2nd Tactical Response Units of the LMC's Counterterrorism Directorate have specially-trained officers capable of providing fire support from rotary wing aircraft, with the POC (pilot-in-command) answerable to the commanding officer of the tactical unit aboard the respective helicopter; similarly, Strategic Firearms Command has a paratrooper unit which is transported directly above its target by fixed wing aircraft, typically one of the Auxiliary Air Transport Units' CRJ-200s.