A local police department revealed a new technological tool to help its officers track suspects during high-speed pursuits.
A training session for White Settlement police officers was held last week at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. They are the first law enforcement agency in North Texas to deploy this device to minimize risk and maximize results when engaged in car chases, reported Fox 4 KDFW.
Akin to something out of a Batman movie, the GPS tracker developed by StarChase is affixed to the front of a patrol car. When a suspect attempts to flee, the officer can target their vehicle with a green laser and fire a tag. This tag attaches to the suspect’s vehicle and reports location information back to the officer, providing a tactical advantage during the pursuit.
White Settlement PD posted a video on YouTube to better demonstrate how this technology works during a high-speed chase.
This technological upgrade comes not long after a federal report was released on vehicular pursuits by law enforcement agencies across the country. Noting an uptick in fatalities resulting from police pursuits since 2020, the report recommended police departments adopt a more restrictive policy, particularly one specifying that chases are initiated only if suspects present an immediate threat to public safety.
In Texas, the number of crashes involving a police chase has increased, doubling the number of related deaths from 34 in 2011 to 72 in 2021, per data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reported CBS News Texas.
“A lot of this has to do with the new thinking in policing today, which is about proportionality,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the think tank Police Executive Research Forum, which assisted in the study, according to The Associated Press. “It’s about the sanctity of life and balancing the risk to everyone. Police officers die in pursuits. Suspects die in pursuits and even citizens can be injured or die.”
White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook also took note of these risks in a statement, stressing that the department is keen on finding ways to minimize them.
“While StarChase is not designed or intended to eliminate all vehicle pursuits, it is a technology that our leadership team wanted to evaluate,” said Cook, according to Fox 4. “Pursuits, while sometimes necessary, can be dangerous situations for officers and the community. We will continue to seek out alternatives and technology to balance these types of risks.”
Reporting in Dallas shows that 96% of the time that the DPD is engaged in a vehicle chase, it is for a felony offense or the suspect displayed a gun, per CBS News Texas.