Nationwide, since 1979, police car chases have killed more than 5,000 bystanders and passengers. In Ohio, roughly 400 people were killed in high-speed police chases during the same period. Nearly 30 percent of those were passengers, and 4 percent either pedestrians or bicyclists.
Tens of thousands of more people were injured, as officers continued to pursue drivers at high speeds and in hazardous conditions — often for minor infractions.
New technology enabling police to track fleeing vehicles with in-car computers can help alleviate this deadly problem. Lucas County Sheriff John Tharp was scheduled to announce today that his office has just equipped five squad cars with newly purchased GPS tracking systems.
The tracking systems fire a sticky dart-like GPS tag at fleeing vehicles from a small cannon installed in a police car’s grille. After the device attaches to the target vehicle, officers with any area law enforcement agency can track the vehicle’s movement on computers in real time, eliminating the need for a dangerous high-speed chase.
Other area law enforcement agencies, including the Toledo Police Department, should follow Sheriff Tharp’s lead. The devices cost about $4,500 each, but area police departments could try to lower costs through joint purchasing. Besides the cost of the compressed air cannon, developed by StarChase Technology of Virginia Beach, Va., every GPS projectile costs about $250.
Many high-speed police pursuits are unnecessary. Most involve suspects of less serious crimes. Typically, they were pulled over for relatively minor offenses, such as driving without a valid license, and then panicked.
In Ohio last year, a 26-year-old woman was killed when the man she was with fled police, after a suspected shoplifting incident, and crashed into three other vehicles in Streetsboro.
Even the best policies can be forgotten when officers make on-the-spot judgments about whether to initiate a high-speed chase, or continue one.
The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office becomes one of the nation’s first law enforcement agencies to use this GPS technology, joining fewer than 25 other departments. Sheriff Tharp said his office has been involved in 24 chases over the last year. None resulted in injuries or deaths.
“This technology is the wave of the future,'' Sheriff Tharp told The Blade’s editorial page. “You have to evaluate the risks. Is it worth going through a residential neighborhood and endangering a child’s life?”
To be sure, communities need to monitor how police are using these devises, ensuring that they use them for intended purposes only — not to violate citizens’ privacy. But reducing the need for potentially lethal high-speed pursuits is imperative.
As with body cameras, another necessary tool, GPS tracking systems show that technology is changing law enforcement — generally for the better. Sheriff Tharp should be commended for, again, taking a progressive and forward-thinking view. Now other law enforcement leaders in this region should give this new tool a serious look.
First Published April 5, 2016, 4:00 a.m.