The Police in Ramsey County, Minnesota, are utilizing Sticky GPS trackers to apprehend fleeing suspects with out resorting to harmful high-speed chases, The WaterStrider GPS tracker, developed by StarChase, is mounted on legislation enforcement autos and launched at fleeing vehicles utilizing a pneumatic launcher, attaching itself to the suspect’s car, offering real-time GPS coordinates and velocity to the officers.
The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Workplace adopted StarChase tech within the spring of 2022, spending $36,000 on the product and tech assist. The expertise is seen as a safer various to high-speed pursuits, permitting legislation enforcement to trace suspects remotely from their computer systems and coordinate arrests extra safely.
The system consists of a launcher powered by compressed air, mounted on squad vehicles, or behind the grille of unmarked autos — The launcher holds two cylindrical monitoring units which might be fired on the suspect’s car utilizing a laser-assisted management panel contained in the squad automobile; As soon as hooked up, the GPS tracker relays real-time details about the car’s location.
The sticky GPS trackers are described as “part-magnet, part-adhesive” and are activated utilizing a heating aspect that ensures the adhesive sticks even in moist or soiled circumstances. The trackers could be simply eliminated after suspects have been apprehended.
Woodbury police and the town of Maplewood are additionally using StarChase expertise to scale back the necessity for high-speed chases. Woodbury police budgeted $60,000 for the system, presently put in in seven squad vehicles. The expertise has been profitable in aiding arrests and offers a safer various to conventional pursuits, which pose important dangers to suspects, legislation enforcement officers, and the group.
StarChase’s monitoring tag. (Picture: Official web site)
Below Minnesota legislation, the usage of GPS trackers is proscribed to monitoring stolen vehicles, and monitoring can solely happen for twenty-four hours (except prolonged by a search warrant). Regulation enforcement businesses should take away the GPS tracker as soon as the stolen car is recovered.
The expertise has confirmed efficient in lowering the dangers related to high-speed chases, with a mean suspect apprehension fee of 86% in comparison with a reported nationwide fee of 72% for conventional pursuits. Regardless of its success, legislation enforcement officers emphasize that the expertise is just not a one-size-fits-all answer and should be used judiciously in particular conditions.
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