Tactical Technologies to aid Police in Catching Criminals

A GPS tracking system has been revealed as a technology that will aid the police in catching criminals. The technology enables the police to pursue the suspect for just a few blocks, instead of engaging himself in a dangerous and high-speed chase. Guided by a laser-sight targeting system, the police tag his car with the laser-guided GPS system launched from the front grille of the squad car. The ‘sticky’ transmitter attaches to the fleeing car, allowing the police to track the suspect through real-time feeds over a wireless network.

According to LAPD Chief William Bratton, “We believe this technology and the trials associated with it, will potentially give police officers yet another tool to minimize the damaging risks associated with high-speed pursuits… My goal is to protect not only my officers, but the general public as well.”

For a year, the technology went through beta-testing in Los Angeles. Present, the Suffolk County Police Department is testing it in New York.

StarChase, LLC, the developer, is planning to have the technology commercialized and brought to market by early next year.

Company COO Mandy McCall said that StarChase is holding a patent on the pneumatic gun, which uses compressed air in launching the projectile that can stick to metal and plastic car surfaces.

McCall said, “The pursuit tactics are set by each local municipality… But officers sit in the car and guide the projectile by laser from a control panel on the dashboard.”

McCall also mentioned that LAPD’s tactical-technology contributed in the development of the StarChase system. It has tested the system on its Emergency Vehicle Operations Course (EVOC).

The unit, headed by Sgt. Dan Gomez, helped in refining the projectile into a battery-powered device that will release a tracking system every three seconds.

According to Trevor Fischbach, StarChase vice president of sales and business development and inventor of the sticky car-tracker, “LAPD has three of the prototype systems… With the technology, they can track the vehicle they are pursuing, its direction and range of speed. There’s also a mapping portal – that tells them the coordinates of where they parked, so they know when they’ve stopped driving.”

In addition to the GPS tracking system, LAPD is also working on the use of a wireless video-surveillance network at the Jordan Downs public-housing project, in collaboration with Motorola Corp.

Other police departments are also considering the use of new technologies like the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as a new form of airborne unit. With about similar size with a model airplane, the UAVs could replace helicopters, making it more difficult for the criminals to see. The technology could even provide the police instant access to an overall aerial view of an emerging situation.

Safa Egilmez, crime-fighting technology expert for the Santa Monica, California, police department, said, “Some of these UAVs have the capability of fitting into the trunk of a police vehicle and able to launch within 15 minutes.” “They also will have the capability of being very easy to control, able to transmit via wireless communication, the visible and infrared spectrum imagery directly to police vehicles computers as well as to the headquarters. This is suitable for tactical deployments as well as for event tracking,” he added.

Mainly in small towns, other police departments are also looking forward in the use of wireless Internet connections to share data regarding criminals.

According to Paul Smith, president of Blue Streak Connect (a police software developer based in Washington, D.C., “It seems that a lot of the criminals who are being pursued by the high-tech police departments in big cities are resettling into small towns… Then they are suspected of starting crime sprees in their new locales. Local sheriffs want to be able to track them and detect patterns of emerging crimes.”

Well… Those are just few. And, there are other more technologies that have been developed under the same goal: to facilitate the fight against criminals.