LOS ANGELES — On second thought, just let him go, boys.

Incredible though it may seem, breathless car chases could be a thing of the past in Southern California. The Los Angeles Police Department has agreed to serve as a beta-test site for StarChase LLC's patented vehicle-tagging and -tracking Pursuit Management System.

The prototype system has been developed to eliminate the need for high-speed chases by launching a miniature GPS receiver at a suspect's vehicle. The pursuing officer fires the tag from a cruiser-mounted compressed-air launcher. The tag sticks to the vehicle and transmits its location coordinates to a central location, alleviating the need for high-speed pursuits of fleeing suspects.

As these chases can end violently, the StarChase system is a welcome solution.

"We believe this technology … will potentially give police officers yet another tool to minimize the damaging risks associated with high-speed pursuits. My goal is to protect not only my officers, but the general public as well," said LAPD Chief William Bratton.

Trevor Fischbach, StarChase vice president of business development, said that the company hopes to start deploying commercial systems in late 2006.

What this means to you: TV news in L.A. just got a lot more boring.

Story source: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=109181
Picture source: http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/04/l...high-speed-ch/

 

the only problem with this is car jackers can get away

 

That's, um, that's kind of the point. They get away, rather than leading the police on a dangerous, uncontrolled high speed pursuit. Then, when they think they've gotten away scott free, they stash the car, and the cops bust them. The GPS will lead them to wherever they might go. From the sound of it, the only way a criminal could get away would be to pry the entire panel that was struck off of the vehicle.

 

The carjackers can get away, ditch the vehicle and take off on foot before (because they carjacked, the cops have no idea who the person is) the cops will even know where they are, unless they also monitor the vehicle visually by helicopter.

 

I wonder if they could tag someone thats riding something like a .. brand new Yamaha R1.


very small nimble target and with only 380 lbs and 180 hp to propell that weight...

Sport bikes are probably the vehicles with the highest probably to get away especially if no support is in the air when the pursuit begins.

 

Sure, right between the shoulder blades.

 

Thats one skilled shooter.

 

Carjackers are scum, but I'd rather get the vehicle back intact as opposed to something that has been rolled, PITted, spiked, or otherwise maimed. Additionally, I'd rather lose some minor stuff out of my car over knowing my car was responsible for the deaths of innocent bystanders.

 

cars are inanimate objects...they can't be "responsible" for things

 

Took the words right out of my mouth, NYLex...that is the exact point I was going to bring up. This will lead the cops to the car but not necessarily the driver. Even with a chopper overhead, there are often plenty of places somebody in good shape can run to , duck into, and disappear. Police tracking dogs will do no good if they don't know what scent to pick up.

Unfortunately there are no easy answers to this dilemma. You can immobilize or destroy the car with a direct air-to-ground hit from a military combat helicopter and its laser target-tracking devices, but then you risk a lot of damage and injury to other people and vehicles around the car ( and possible lawsuits ) .

 

Yeah, that way there won't be that tie up in the court system where the carjacker sues the car owner saying "The turbo in this guys car was illeagal so that's what caused me to go 160 on that 2-lane..."

 

I completely agree. Lacking the technology to stop a pursuit in its tracks, ground units should not pursue these people. It seems that wall-to-wall TV coverage only spawns more chases as these morons try to duplicate what they see on television. It doesn't matter that practically all of the TV chases end badly for the driver.

The danger to other motorists, pedestrians, and even spectators wouldn't seem to make a pursuit worthwhile - particularly for a traffic violator or petty crook. The traditional Law Enforcement answer has been, "We don't know why a person runs from the law, we have to assume he's committed a serious crime". It would be interesting to see some real statistics on this, but just from watching a few police reality shows, it looks like most of these perps are running because they're drunk, have dope in the car, have outstanding warrants, or are just plain stupid. An assessment needs to be made as to whether these crimes justify risking so many lives.

As to firing a weapon at a fleeing vehicle, Texas has an interesting protocol. First, NO local law enforcement officers are allowed to fire their weapon at a suspect vehicle. (Unless fired upon, and even then local officers may risk their jobs.) ONLY Texas state troopers and Rangers may fire to disable a vehicle. This is an attempt to ENSURE that the person firing the weapon has adequate training in this situation (not some local Barney Fife), and is qualified with the weapon. Federal officers are not covered by this protocol.

News coverage of these chases is saturating our airwaves. Some punk kid steals a pack of cigarettes from the Kwikee-Mart and the afternoon's programming is set, with four or five news choppers overhead competing for the good angle. Between the risk of the pursuit, and the risk of a mid-air between all of the news and police helicopters, somebody's going to get hurt. Maybe injured parties should sue the TV stations for a part of their profits. After all, they are unpaid cast members in the drama . . . .

The recent series of high-speed chases in Houston, and the death of a young boy in a car struck by a fleeing SUV a few days ago, has made this a critical issue in Texas. Expect a lot of debate on this issue in coming months.

 

I read a related article the other day in which there is legislation being proposed to install GPS devices in every new vehicle soon. Not as a convinience, but as a way of speed monitoring and ticketing. There was even talk of the GPS devices governing your speed all together, like you can't go over posted speed limits AT ALL.

Seems to me that if Cali wants to stop their primetime chases that some device like this could easily be made to work. Hell, put a sticky enough substance on the back of a GPS unit and fling it at the suspects car and be done with it.

I'd rather have to repaint a panel than replace the whole car or worse.