StarChase uses a vehicle-mounted launcher to fire a GPS tag on the back of a vehicle. Police can then track the vehicle using GPS coordinates in real time without chasing it through heavy traffic or speeding down highways. Moraine police started using StarChase in June and has already seen a positive impact. Andrew Parish said. A sergeant used StarChase on Nov.
The sergeant attempted to stop the vehicle, which was reported stolen out of Fairborn, but it fled. After pursuing the vehicle for about a minute and 30 seconds, the sergeant launched a StarChase tag, which stuck to the back of the fleeing vehicle.
The sergeant was then able to end the pursuit. The GPS tag allowed police to continue to track the vehicle. After 27 minutes, the vehicle came to an abrupt stop after it was involved in a crash near North Snyder and Little Richmond roads in Trotwood, according to police. Moraine officers were able to help Montgomery County sheriff's deputies who had responded to the crash.
Franklin police recently installed StarChase on some of the department's cruisers and are in the process of training officers.
Chief Adam Colon said the program should be implemented in the next few weeks. Colon first heard about StarChase about a decade ago while he was with Riverside police. He saw the program being promoted on LinkedIn more recently and thought it could be a useful program after watching videos online. The chief believes StarChase can help mitigate risks during police pursuits while still enabling officers to catch suspects. Once the launchers were fitted to cruisers and officers went through training, they went to the Warren County Airport and took turns using StarChase on an old.
