By Duane Wolfe
Police1 Contributor
With a growing number of officers killed and injured during the deployment of tire deflation systems, Pursuit Management’s MobileSpike offers an alternative deployment method. The system consists of a combination push bumper and mechanical arm. The arm can be set to deploy the spiking strip on the left or right side and weighs about 86 pounds.
When the decision is made to deploy the system the officer moves up along side the suspect vehicle with the front bumper ahead of the rear tire. The officer maintains a distance of six feet from the fleeing vehicle.
The system is air operated by the driver of the squad car. The system can be armed and ready when the squad car is in position. A flip of the activation button extends the arm with a flexible spiking strip attached at the end. The officer applies the brakes and the spiking strip goes under the tires. The arm retracts automatically back into the push bumper mounting when the activation button is released. The deflation is controlled and takes about a minute. The total time of deployment for the MobileSpike system is under 10 seconds.
The spike strip is easily replaced by simply pulling a pin, removing the old spike strip and replacing it with a new strip.
Michael Moremeyer, the inventor of the system cites several advantages of the system over a normal deflation device. Because the device is on a moving vehicle an additional officer isn’t required to determine where the pursuit is going and set up the spikes on an intercepting path. This frees up that officer to join in the pursuit or take other appropriate actions.
Officer safety is enhanced since the officer has the added security of being protected by the safety devices contained in their squad car like seat belts and air bags, unlike the officer out on foot during a hand deployment of a deflation device.
The positioning of the squad car is familiar to officers trained in the Pursuit Intervention Technique (P.I.T.) making training easier for those officers. The complete MobileSpike system cost $5,000. For more information you can contact Pursuit Management Inc. through their website at http://www.mobilespike.com/.
Duane has been a Minnesota Peace Officer since 1988, serving as patrolman, sergeant, S.R.T., Use of Force and Firearms Instructor, and is currently employed by the Parkers Prairie Police Department. He is also a full time instructor in the Law Enforcement Program at Alexandria Technical College, Alexandria, Minnesota. Duane has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Bemidji State University, and a Masters Degree in Education from Southwest State University. Duane has previously published articles on Calibre Press and IALEFI and served on the Advisory Board for Lt. Col. Dave Grossmans book, On Combat.