Police across the country have taken a device from James Bond’s arsenal to help save lives.
With Star Chase technology, police no longer need to pursue criminal suspects in high speed chases that endanger the officers, the suspect, and countless civilian motorists or pedestrians.
A launching tube mounted to the front of a police cruiser fires a GPS dart at the suspect’s vehicle. Police can then back off, track the fleeing suspect in real time, and then intercept them at a later time.
Technology like this is groundbreaking and offers a stunning 90% success rate in recovering fleeing suspects.
On September 27, 2017, the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office in Toledo, Ohio used this technology to bring an armed suspect to justice.
John Bartlett was caught dumpster diving by a Lucas County deputy. When the officer asked Bartlett to stop, the dumpster diver drew a firearm, entered his vehicle, and fled the scene. Fortunately the deputy was driving one of five cruisers equipped with Star Chase technology.
Before Bartlett drove away, the deputy successfully deployed his Star Chase tracker. “They were able to track him with GPS and other jurisdictions got involved and they knew his location and speed and were able to get in front of him and get stop sticks out and stop him,” said Captain Matt Lettke told local CBS affiliate WTOL 11.
“This was the first time that this was the perfect case scenario and we are happy with the outcome we will mark this as a win because there was no serious injury or loss of life we did not crash any of our vehicles and there were no citizens of the suspect hurt,” said Lettke.
Bartlett is currently behind bars at the Lucas County Jail for drawing a gun on a law enforcement officer.
Watch the Fox 17 news report from March, 2017 below to learn more about the Star Chase technology.