LOOKS LIKE A WINNER

State troopers have a new tactic against fleeing vehicles — shooting GPS tracking tags

 

By Emily Sweeney

 

The Boston Globe

Sep 16, 2024

 

 

State Police troopers give a demonstration of the StarChase technology that helps them avoid dangerous high-speed chases.

 

AYER — It sounds like a high-tech gadget from an action movie.

Police are pursuing a driver who refuses to pull over. But instead of engaging in a dangerous, high-speed pursuit, the officer fires a GPS tag that sticks to the speeding vehicle and tracks its movements. All at the push of a button.

“It allows officers to mitigate the situation and also limit the probability of serious injuries or fatalities involved with high-speed pursuits,” said Major Dan Tucker of the Massachusetts State Police, which has used the system since May and has equipped 30 cruisers with the technology.

A double-barreled launcher mounted on the front of the cruiser holds a pair of GPS tracking tags, two cylinder-shaped projectiles that are about the size of adult’s hand. Heated adhesive on the top of the projectile allows it to stick to the exterior of a fleeing vehicle and a magnet helps it stay in place.

 

  

Trooper Colton Leary holds a StarChase GPS tracking tag that can be launched from the front of a police cruiser. 

 

Each launcher has a laser to help the trooper aim — wherever the green dot is where the GPS tag will land. The best distance for deploying the trackers is 18 to 20 feet, and troopers use a console with arrow-shaped buttons to home in on the target.

Troopers can also use a handheld key fob to deploy a tracker remotely, which is useful if they’re standing outside of their cruiser and a driver speeds off from a traffic stop.

 

  

A GPS tag is loaded into the vehicle-mounted launcher. 

 

The system costs approximately $2,300 per cruiser per year, State Police said. The agency would like to expand the program if possible, a spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Cyr, commander of the State Police’s Division of Homeland Security, said the use of the technology has so far been overwhelmingly positive.

“We’ve had tremendous success so far,” he said. “Once we have a successful deployment, the trooper at that point can completely deescalate, back off, turn off the sirens, turn off the blue lights, and then basically terminate the pursuit.”

From May 16 through Sept. 8, the trackers were used 46 times, and 76 percent were deemed to be successful (8.7 percent failed to attach to the car, and 15.2 percent were unsuccessful due to operator error).

 

 

While following a “fleeing” vehicle, Trooper Rob Beer hits the fire button on the operator console that controls the launcher on the front of the cruiser.

 

The trackers seek to reduce the need for police chases, which are notoriously dangerous.

From 2015 through 2020, there was an average of 370 fatal crashes per year due to police pursuits, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

On Monday, the mother of a 19-year-old nursing student who was killed in a 2021 crash in Saugus involving a police pursuit of an unarmed robbery suspect filed a wrongful death suit in US District Court in Boston against the town, two local police officers, and the alleged robber.

State Police conducted 512 pursuits last year. As of Sept. 11, there have been have 361 pursuits this year — a 12 percent increase from the same point last year.

 

  

After deployment, the GPS tag is affixed above the right of the license plate. Law enforcement can then track the movements of the vehicle.

 

The tracker technology was developed by StarChase, a privately held company based in Virginia, and has been available commercially since 2014.

The company said its system is being used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies in more than 40 states across the country, as well as the United Kingdom and Canada.

Trevor Fischbach, the company’s president and founder, said traditional high speed pursuits can result in “pretty terrible outcomes.”

The technology “is taking a lot of the risk out of these risky situations that law enforcement agencies deal with every day,” he said.

The company’s website includes quotes from an American Civil Liberties Union official that the technology shouldn’t pose a problem as long as the police have probable cause of wrongdoing, no time to get a warrant when they use it, and that the GPS tag is removed as soon as they catch up with the vehicle.

An ACLU spokesperson, however, said the group “does not endorse surveillance products, and we did not authorize any marketing efforts that suggest otherwise.”

“The ACLU’s documented statements on this matter should not be construed as an endorsement of any specific brand or type of product,” the spokesperson said.

 Lieutenant Colonel Mark Cyr (left), commander of the Massachusetts State Police Division of Homeland Security, and State Police Major Dan Tucker were in attendance when State Police troopers gave a demonstration of the StarChase technology.

  

An operator console inside the State Police cruiser controls the StarChase launcher.

  

The GPS tag can also be deployed by a trooper outside the vehicle, by using a remote key fob.