Helicopters circling I-57/I-80 interchange

I live just a couple of miles from where I-57 and I-80 meet and since at least 2 P.M. it is 1700 right now. There are 2, I drove by there on 175th street and I could see the choppers in a circle pattern, they are most likely Police, but on 1 I could see grey/silver with blue, on the other it was more of a flat grey maybe light black, hard to see with the way the sun was reflecting and I couldn't really stop.

Anyway if anyone else is in this area, take a drive by there and see. I think they are working with the State Police to nab speeders, but I didn't see any State patrol vehicles in their usual places there.

When my wife comes back home I will drive by there again with my camera.

[edit on 21-4-2006 by scarecrow19d]

Well I went back by and they were heading off. No good pics, just 1 blurry one couldn't get close enough.

Put up the one picture you got, maybe we can see what it is thats happening.

I dont know where I-57 / I-80 interchange is. I suppose I could look it up on a map, but I don't have one handy.

Well, the reason I'm responding to this, is that - like I said, I don't know where you are located. so I don't know if your helicopters and mine are related. But, I live in the Oklahoma City area, and have been noticing helicopters - in varying types, ever since I have lived here - a little over 3 years.

As a matter of fact, I started a thread on it over a year ago:

Eerie Helicopters at Night

That was when the 'copters seemed to be of a different variety. I recently wrote in the same thread about a different helicopter trend over the city. These are most definately police helicopters. I find it strange however, that for about the last two or three months at least now, they, without fail, go up every single night (at least 2, probably more) right after dark and stay up, circling and hovering all night long until it is light. Then they go back to whereever it is that they came from. Until the next night. Same thing.

Now, I could totally understand it if there is an occasional crime committed. A robbery, a hit & run driver, what have you, where there is a suspect that is being sought after and the ground police need assistance from the air.

However, I simply can not see this being the case every single night from the moment it gets dark to the first light of dawn. Also, and I'm not just being paranoid, because all of my neighbors whom I have spoken to about the helicopters have said the same thing. If one goes outside while a helicopter is overhead, it will stop moving forward, stay stationary and abruptly point it's nose (with a very bright spotlight at the tip of it) directly down and spotlight the person walking outside. Then it rights itself back and seems to move on. It is sort of unnerving, even having no reason to hide from them or anything, it is uncomfortable to be spotlighted like that.

They have become annoying in others ways also, mainly that they fly low enough so that they make quite a bit of noise, which (at least for me) makes it difficult to fall asleep. I have tried to Google for information on them and what they could possibly be doing up there every single night, but have not been able to find any relevant information. Perhaps I am not using the correct search words, but I think that I should have found something at least. So, now it is becoming quite a mystery. They certainly make themselves obvious enough, not like they are trying to hide the fact that they are up there, but for what reason?

I have even heard recently on the local news, that with the gas prices rising again, many state troopers are having their hours cut back in order to save on gasoline used by them cruising around in their cars. But also, I understand that the cost of flying a helicopter is way, way higher than the cost of driving a car, no matter what the cost of gas is at the time.

So, I guess what bothers me about this, is partially the constant annoying noise at night, but more so, the secrecy as to what they are doing. It must be something that the state/city feels is more important than having the state troopers on the ground as much as they are used to. So, what is going on?

Does anybody know? I don't have a picture, but they appear to be just regular police helicopters. I know that they are not Rescure, nor are they News. And they don't appear to be Military. Hhhmmmm.

I am on the South side of Chicago, the burbs actually.

I saw on the news tonight that there was a hazmat spill on I-80. Kinda weird though cause like I said they were circling and hovering in a distinct pattern.

Except for the evening news there was no mention of the spill and it just seemed kinda odd.

The pic I have is very pixalated and the chopper looks more like a bug. I will try to get it posted though.

Probably Shadow Traffic. With the Dan Ryan construction, they were probably monitoring the traffic.

Originally posted by HowardRoark
Probably Shadow Traffic. With the Dan Ryan construction, they were probably monitoring the traffic.

This is entirely possible, still the Dan Ryan is 23 miles north of here so I don't think it is related, but then again it very well could be.

Damn.
I live RIGHT beside I-57, about 100yrds or so east of it.