An EC-120B Colibri, also known as a Hummingbird, will serve the Winnipeg Police Service's air patrol unit. (Eurocopter)

Winnipeg's new police helicopter will be unveiled Friday but it won't yet start patrolling the city from above.

The chopper, an EC-120B Colibri, also known as a Hummingbird, might briefly take to the skies as a demonstration during the unveiling at Canadian Forces Base 17 Wing.

However, pilots and police officers in the unit still need to be trained.

The helicopter will not be put into regular service until the New Year, city officials say.

Training was supposed to happen much earlier, with the possibility of launching the air patrol unit in October. There were some delays in getting the necessary equipment, though.

In December, city council voted to spend $3.5 million to purchase the helicopter. The province has agreed to provide $1.3 million a year in operating costs as well as about $25,000 in annual inflationary costs.

The province is also funding the cost of three additional officers required to staff the helicopter.

Calling the helicopter "a crime-fighting tool utilized in many other major urban centres," Manitoba Justice Minister Andrew Swan and Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz announced in May that Eurocopter Canada Limited had been awarded the contract to provide the craft.