By Cindy George
Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON — A sticky GPS tracker deployed on a vehicle eluding officers and remotely activated spike strips that deflate the tires of a pursued car are two new technologies the Houston Police Department is testing to make chases safer for the public and authorities.
In a demonstration Tuesday morning at the HPD Police Academy in north Houston, officials showed two types of devices being used in a pilot program.
The first, called StarChase, is a GPS tracking device that shoots off of a laser-equipped console on a police vehicle’s front end and attaches to a car being pursued. Dispatchers can watch the wanted vehicle on an interactive map to direct officers on the road or overhead in a helicopter.
HPD planning Sgt. James H. Turner said department tests of the device has “stuck to the target” about 90 percent of the time.
“Instead of chasing the suspect faster and faster, we can back off. Statistics show that once we do back off and turn off the lights and siren and the suspect slows down, it still gives us the ability to track the target and move in for the arrest when that vehicle comes to a safe stop,” he said.
The other, called NightHawk, is a briefcase that uses a small explosion to throw spike strips across a roadway to puncture and flatten the tires of a vehicle that’s being chased, then retracts to avoid damaging police vehicles in pursuit. An officer doesn’t have to physically position the slow-down devices.
HPD officer Richard Martin was fatally struck in May 2015 by a fleeing vehicle as he manually placed spike strips across North Kirkwood Road.
“Sometimes a high-speed police chase ends in tragedy. There have been officers killed and citizens killed as a result of high-speed chases that had absolutely nothing to do with the chase. So, we’re trying to slow down the chase,” Turner said.
Eight officers are receiving StarChase and there will be three NightHawk units under pilot programs in the field over the next year.
Turner said officials also are writing policies for the new devices.
Chase policies and procedures in the region have been questioned recently following several police pursuits that ended in crashes and critical injuries as well as the deaths of officers, fleeing suspects and civilians – including a child.
From April 4 through June 30, there were 13 police-chase crashes in the Houston area, according to a Chronicle analysis.
A Patton Village officer died in a June 19 pursuit that also killed an 11-year-old boy.
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