Belle Meade police have launched a new crime-fighting device aimed at using GPS tracking devices to monitor fleeing suspects without having to engage in often dangerous vehicle pursuits.
In July 2023, the Belle Meade City Commission approved the purchase of eight StarChase Guardian-VX vehicle-mounted GPS launchers and one Guardian-HX handheld GPS launcher for $73,516.
The funding was made possible through a government grant to combat violent crime.
The purchase includes a 12-month subscription for the devices and data management via StarChase, which uses Google Maps information and allows law enforcement to track the movement of activated darts.
BMPD Lt. Mack Mangrum demonstrates the use of the StarChase portable GPS launcher, which allows an officer to fire a GPS tracking dart at a suspicious vehicle and allows police to track a suspect's movement rather than engaging in a dangerous pursuit to involve the police.
BMPD equipped eight of its 16 patrol vehicles with the systems, which allow two darts to be loaded into the launcher. The firing devices include rifled barrels and are mounted on the front grill of the patrol car.
The devices use a metal and foam container the size of a small soup can with an adhesive tip that is heated to 100 degrees Fahrenheit so that the dart sticks to a vehicle's bumper.
“This gives the officer another option,” Lt. BMPD Public Information Officer Mack Mangrum told The News. “They can attack the vehicle and not have to chase it, they don’t have to feel like they have to try to keep up with the vehicle.”
According to a 2023 Associated Press report, the Police Executive Research Forum, a national think tank on policing standards, urged law enforcement to avoid police prosecutions due to the danger to the public, which results in hundreds of deaths in the United States annually .
The Virginia-based company has sold its products to law enforcement and security agencies around the world and boasts that more than 10,000 “successful tags” have been deployed in its vehicle units, equating to a reported “arrest rate of 85%” over 10 years .
A StarChase GPS tracking dart attaches to a vehicle's bumper and allows police to track a suspect's vehicle instead of engaging in a dangerous police chase.
According to StarChase, the handheld launcher has an effective range of 10 to 40 feet and the vehicle system can be fired remotely using a key fob.
Each dart has an individual number and tracking information. Exposed darts can be returned by the manufacturer and used for another purpose.
Following StarChase's comprehensive training program, BMPD can now uninstall and reinstall the devices on other police vehicles and train its officers on the devices internally.
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