Wait...they had a helicopter?

So I'd never seen this movie and it popped up in my Amazon Prime last week, and I watched it.

Charming movie - slight, but engaging, and Burt Reynolds and Sally Fields are attractive enough to make it a worthwhile watch. The plot is silly, and nobody but nobody ever wears seatbelts, but whatever. Not a movie you want to think about too much because it falls apart logic-wise.

However, one thing surprised me. Toward the end of the movie a helicopter shows up out of nowhere - part of the Georgia highway patrol, I guess.

So why wasn't Bandit apprehended a lot sooner than he was? Justice had his license plate number - yet nobody seems to be on the highways looking for him, an APB is apparently never put out. All there is is a series of easily-breakable roadblocks that he just plows right through.

How does he not get caught? Even after the helicopter shows up, he gets all the way to the fairgrounds and none of the police officers even approach him, even though with a helicopter they had means to track his every movement. There's no way he should have been able to get in that Cadillac unseen - but suddenly he becomes invisible. It's weird.

One more thing: if you're bootlegging a truckful of anything, wouldn't you want to haul it in the absolutely LEAST conspicuous truck you could find? Like, a small white courier truck? Why on earth are they hauling that beer in a gigantic truck with a gigantic gaudy UNIQUE mural painted on the side? Are they trying to get caught???