Police pursuits and the GPS dart

By: Drivers.com staff

Date: Saturday, 06. January 2007

An air propelled miniature dart equipped with a global positioning device may revolutionize the way Los Angeles cops chase fleeing vehicles.

Developed by a Virginia company, the Starchase system requires that a police car be equipped with compressed air launchers, which fire the miniature GPS receiver in a sticky compound resembling a golf ball. The device sticks to a fleeing motorist's vehicle and emits a radio signal which police can track.

According to the L.A. Times, the U.S. Department of Justice is suggesting that the Los Angeles Police Department try out the system for about four months.

According to the LA Times, LAPD Chief William J. Bratton is very keen on the idea. "Instead of us pushing them doing 70 or 80 miles an hour ... this device allows us not to have to pursue after the car," Bratton said. "It allows us to start vectoring where the car is. Even if they bail out of the car, we'll have pretty much instantaneously information where they are," Bratton told the Times.

There were more than 600 pursuits in Los Angeles last year, according to the Times and more than 100,000 nationwide.