Peoria County is the first police authority in the region to use GPS tracking as an alternative to high-speed hunts

West Peoria (Now 25News) – Like a scene from a spy film, the Peoria County's office has a new tool for civil servants to avoid high -speed hunts and at the same time monitor a suspicious vehicle.

This month, Peoria County Starchase GPS -DART's office installed the Sheriff in his patrol car. The darts use a non-fatal adhesive GPS day on the vehicle of a refugee suspect. The new system was carried out after the deputies of the Sheriff had observed almost 400 incidents last year, in which suspects were started.

Sheriff Chris Watkins said that when his officers follow a chase, they have to take into account the seriousness of the indictment, the time of day, the traffic and much more to determine whether a high -speed current is worthwhile. Most car hunts are ended for these reasons.

By using the GPS Darts, MPs can pursue a car and slow down for security reasons.

“[Car chases] Are so dangerous and we don't like to lose, so we think that this is a great tool to help us win some of these jobs, ”said Sheriff Watkins.

GPS -Darts were useful on Monday morning.

Sheriff Watkins said at 2 a.m. that one of his MPs in West Peoria did not carry out a traffic stop for any taillight when the driver fired.

The deputy shot the first dart and then resigned from the ruthless driving and speeding of the suspect, but continued to monitor the vehicle through tracking technology.

“Because we only have traffic fees and they drove them at high speed, we would probably have had to terminate this persecution,” he said.

“Because we had this star chase technology, we used it and within a minute and a half after removing this vehicle we found the vehicle and found one of the passengers. The investigation will probably show who these people are, ”said Watkins.

The sheriff said that vehicles that are involved in high-speed activities are frequently stolen or rent, including those on Monday morning. He said his department would carry these cars so that they cannot be used again to commit crimes.

The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board offers the local police a model guideline for this type of activities.

Brian Fengel, training director of Central Illinois, said that police stations can adapt politics according to their wishes, but everything is to protect drivers.

“Every tool that you can use instead of tracking you drive an 8,000 pound rocket or a car, so it is a great liability for police authorities throughout the state,” said Fengel.

In most cases, the law enforcement authorities need a search command approved by the court to teach a car a modern GPS tracker to a car.

However, Watkins noticed that Starchase was approved by the American Civil Liberties Union and that her GPS -Darts do not need judicial approval.

The sheriff said that Peoria County was the first police authority in Central -illinois to deal with these darts. The Oak Brook police use them in the suburbs of Chicago and offered him positive feedback.

“In a variety of crimes of crimes and unsufficient vehicles, the technology has been effective that are enough of flight, stolen vehicles, duis, human trafficking, narcotics and other crimes,” added Watkins.

You can watch 25NEWs – every news program everywhere – live on 25NewSnow.com, our 25News Mobile App and in our week 25News SmartTV Streaming app. Learn more about how you can connect with 25News streaming messages.

Copyright 2025 week. All rights reserved.