OAK BROOK, IL - Thanks to the help of a new policing technology product, authorities in the west suburbs were able to stop a burglary in progress. According to WGNTV, the GPS tracking dart called "Star Chase" is a small device that is having a major impact on police pursuits.
The incident happened in the morning on Thursday, October 10th, leading police on a vehicle pursuit on the Eisenhower Expressway that eventually ended when officers were able to catch the two suspects because of the tracking dart. At around 4:45 a.m., officers in Oak Brook arrested two suspects who allegedly fled from Elmhurst to Oak Park on I-290 after breaking into a liquor store.
According to CBS News, the suspects fled in two separate cars, a white Dodge Challenger and an Alfa Romeo, during which the Romeo hit an Elmhurst police car. The officer inside that car was not injured. Neighboring police agencies were alerted and an officer from Oak Brook was able to get behind the fleeing vehicle to deploy the GPS tracking dart, which shoots out of the front of a police vehicle's bumper.
Elmhurst Police Chief Michael McLean said, "These two offenders were wanted for other crimes. We did locate a firearm at the scene and both have very lengthy criminal histories." Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis said, "An officer presses a button and it heats up an epoxy for the actual dart. That dart has a GPS tracking device inside of it and also has a very strong magnet that shoots out of the front of the bumper of the squad car and affixes to the back of the fleeing vehicle."
The officer can then back off, pull up a computer screen, and track the location of the car being pursued. Strockis said, "There's no warrant necessary to deploy this device. We have reasonable suspicion and probable cause that vehicle is going to flee and it's a public safety took to not only keep the officer safe, but the public safe." Oak Brook police said that they are using the tracking darts on a nearly weekly basis and other suburban departments like Elmhurst and Willow Brook have just acquired the policing tool. Some Chicago Aldermen are also showing interest in the new technology as they look to possibly get them from the Chicago Police Department.
Strockis said, "If you would have told me, I started 24 years ago, that we'd be shooting GPS darts out of the front of a squad car, I would have said that you're crazy, you know, but technology is advancing so much, especially in law enforcement, that it's just, it's amazing to see where we've come." McLean added, "We can stop police pursuits sooner, keep the motoring public safer while still apprehending dangerous criminals."
In 2020, a police pursuit from the south suburbs ended in a deadly crash on Chicago's North Side, resulting in the death of an innocent bystander, which subsequently led to changes in CPD's pursuit policy. Strockis said, "Our tac sergeant just testified at a council meeting for Chicago and talked about the benefits and successes that we've had, and there was some discussion relating to first implementing them on some specialized units."
The police and fire committee are interested in Chicago police potentially using the technology. Each unit reportedly costs about $7,000. Alderman Nick Sposato from the 38th Ward said:
"If we put them on you know, 100 cars and it costs us $70,000 and we save a lot of money because of it, then it was well worth it, you know. One settlement, we don't have many settlements that are in the tens or twenty thousand of course we only get stuff $100,000 or more." An investigation into police pursuit crashes between 2015 and 2020 show that the city of Chicago shelled out nearly $100 million in settlements from those pursuits, as reported by WGN.
The incident happened in the morning on Thursday, October 10th, leading police on a vehicle pursuit on the Eisenhower Expressway that eventually ended when officers were able to catch the two suspects because of the tracking dart. At around 4:45 a.m., officers in Oak Brook arrested two suspects who allegedly fled from Elmhurst to Oak Park on I-290 after breaking into a liquor store.
According to CBS News, the suspects fled in two separate cars, a white Dodge Challenger and an Alfa Romeo, during which the Romeo hit an Elmhurst police car. The officer inside that car was not injured. Neighboring police agencies were alerted and an officer from Oak Brook was able to get behind the fleeing vehicle to deploy the GPS tracking dart, which shoots out of the front of a police vehicle's bumper.
Elmhurst Police Chief Michael McLean said, "These two offenders were wanted for other crimes. We did locate a firearm at the scene and both have very lengthy criminal histories." Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis said, "An officer presses a button and it heats up an epoxy for the actual dart. That dart has a GPS tracking device inside of it and also has a very strong magnet that shoots out of the front of the bumper of the squad car and affixes to the back of the fleeing vehicle."
The officer can then back off, pull up a computer screen, and track the location of the car being pursued. Strockis said, "There's no warrant necessary to deploy this device. We have reasonable suspicion and probable cause that vehicle is going to flee and it's a public safety took to not only keep the officer safe, but the public safe." Oak Brook police said that they are using the tracking darts on a nearly weekly basis and other suburban departments like Elmhurst and Willow Brook have just acquired the policing tool. Some Chicago Aldermen are also showing interest in the new technology as they look to possibly get them from the Chicago Police Department.
Strockis said, "If you would have told me, I started 24 years ago, that we'd be shooting GPS darts out of the front of a squad car, I would have said that you're crazy, you know, but technology is advancing so much, especially in law enforcement, that it's just, it's amazing to see where we've come." McLean added, "We can stop police pursuits sooner, keep the motoring public safer while still apprehending dangerous criminals."
In 2020, a police pursuit from the south suburbs ended in a deadly crash on Chicago's North Side, resulting in the death of an innocent bystander, which subsequently led to changes in CPD's pursuit policy. Strockis said, "Our tac sergeant just testified at a council meeting for Chicago and talked about the benefits and successes that we've had, and there was some discussion relating to first implementing them on some specialized units."
The police and fire committee are interested in Chicago police potentially using the technology. Each unit reportedly costs about $7,000. Alderman Nick Sposato from the 38th Ward said:
"If we put them on you know, 100 cars and it costs us $70,000 and we save a lot of money because of it, then it was well worth it, you know. One settlement, we don't have many settlements that are in the tens or twenty thousand of course we only get stuff $100,000 or more." An investigation into police pursuit crashes between 2015 and 2020 show that the city of Chicago shelled out nearly $100 million in settlements from those pursuits, as reported by WGN.
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