NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Belle Meade Police used their new GPS tracking system to stop a stolen vehicle.
This is the second time in a month that police have fired the homing arrow at a stolen car. According to investigators, in both cases the target vehicle was recovered and the driver was arrested.
The most recent incident occurred on Sunday March 3rd. That's when License Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras alerted officers to a Chevy Silverado that was stolen out of Cheatham County.
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Officers said they later discovered the truck was being driven by 53-year-old April Reddick.
When Belle Meade officers stopped the Pegram woman, Sgt. According to police, David Wright used a target dart that fired from the front grill of the police car and caught on the back of the pickup truck.
“Be warned, I fired it successfully in case it took off,” Wright said on the radio.
According to Belle Meade police, the veteran officer deployed the GPS dart in case Reddick tried to run away.
Lt. Mack Mangrum told News 2 the officer didn't want to take the risk of Reddick speeding up when he got out of the patrol car to make contact.
“If they take off after stopping, it's usually because of the officer's approach, so Sgt. Wright made an effort to track them down,” Mangrum said.
In this case, Wright was able to successfully take the keys from Reddick and arrest her without incident. Mangrum said the officer was in a good situation either way thanks to the targeting arrow already attached to the truck.
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“Exactly. If someone drives off with it, they can view it on the screen in the car and track the movement of the vehicle, and we can also involve other authorities,” Mangrum said.
This is the second time the Belle Meade Police Department has implemented the GPS dart system in just three weeks.
The first incident occurred on February 13 when a teenager rolled through Belle Meade in a stolen Hyundai. The officer reportedly flagged the car just before the teen saw the police car behind him.
The teenager then accelerated, reaching a speed almost twice the speed limit. But because officers were tracking the stolen Hyundai in real time, they pulled back as the suspect sped away at 81 miles per hour, according to investigators.
After a while, when the teenager stopped seeing blue lights, he slowed down, putting fewer drivers in danger.
Knowing exactly where the teen was from a coordinated map in the police car, Belle Meade officers coordinated with the Metro Nashville Police Department and safely took the suspect into custody at an apartment complex.
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“It increases public safety because the officer doesn't feel obligated to pursue the vehicle if they're fleeing from it, and we can track them for quite some time with the arrow attached to the vehicle,” Mangrum said.
According to Belle Meade police, the GPS arrows can only be fired once.
The darts will be replaced by a subscription service, part of a grant that funds the entire program.
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