High speed PIT maneuver in Arkansas

[Duelist]

https://store.dji.com/guides/camera-...t-follows-you/

Sounds like the most reliable but hardest to deploy would be a hardware “spider tracer” attached to the suspect vehicle(less lethal shotgun deployment?) The trend is to smarter vision systems but it still takes a bit of time to “teach” the drone what the target looks like.

Laser guidance system from control/launch vehicle until the drone brain acquires the target for itself. That tech already exists. Of course, it ain’t cheap.

[whomever]

The end result was infraction only stops very very seldom lead to any felony arrest other than fleeing. Very few guns, very little in the way of significant amounts of dope, enough to support a dealing charge at least.

I'd be fascinated to hear any insight you have into the psychology that's behind that.

I mean, I can imagine going on a high speed chase if I'm in the French Resistance and getting caught means dying screaming in a Gestapo dungeon, or I suppose if I have a few bodies in the trunk and the eluding charge is going to be stacked on LWOP anyway. But given the (relatively small???) probability of successfully getting away, why do it for a minor offense? Just a case of crooks not being good at figuring consequences? The consequences will come, say, ten minutes from now and that's past their event horizon?

I guess this is just one of the special cases of the general case of honest people not understanding crooks, even putting morality aside. I can understand addicts, I guess, whose immediate need eclipses any thoughts of consequences, or maybe a Wall Street type who figures making $20M on an insider trading scheme is worth a .01% chance of getting caught, but doing a high speed chase for a minor crime just seems ... dumb. Heck, ignore the legal penalty and just think about the cost of wrecking; it just doesn't add up.

[Hambo]

Yes, some of them keep driving like assholes and crash. Most don't.

If this trooper had broken his spine and been paralyzed from mid-chest down for the rest of his life, would anyone here say it was worth it? That his sacrifice meant something? Will anyone argue that wasn't a very real possibility from that crash?

It's good to hear from you and @lwt16 there is data.

I was surprised that the trooper in this incident wasn't killed. I've never seen anyone survive and endo at that speed.

[BehindBlueI's]

I'd be fascinated to hear any insight you have into the psychology that's behind that.

I think it's just a "you can't tell me what to do" thing sometimes, sometimes adrenaline seeking behavior (especially with motorcyclists) and sometimes just people who aren't screwed together just right.

I've seen everything from people who *thought* they had a warrant for child support when they didn't, people who wanted to finish their pack of cigarettes before going to jail, people who just enjoyed the adrenaline of the chase, youngsters showing off for their friends, people making their final round of pre-arrest or death phone calls. Sometimes intoxication.

Sometimes dementia or mental illness. The pursuit I was in where the guy chucked a machete at me at the end was a guy paranoid and hopped up on meth. That was an infraction only pursuit originally that the officer called off himself the first time then the guy came back looking for the officer and was driving aggressively again trying to get him to pursue and I authorized to pick back up and was second car on. Likely a suicide by cop attempt that was almost successful.

[BehindBlueI's]

Laser guidance system from control/launch vehicle until the drone brain acquires the target for itself. That tech already exists. Of course, it ain’t cheap.

That's what I was figuring. Some way to paint the target for the drone while still moving. Your buddy sets up like you would a spike strip but instead deploys a drone, you paint the car as you pass, the drone takes over, then other drones are released for a roving perimeter.

[El Cid]

We haven't been able to that in decades, but I'd be a hell of a lot more comfortable authorizing that (if we were) then a 100+mph PIT. Especially if we had a helicopter where the backstop is the ground. But, again, deal with the reality you have not the one you wish for.

I still think before the end of my career we'll be using a network of drones to track fleeing suspects, both in cars and on foot.

I haven’t seen one in person but the Starchaser system I’ve seen used on LivePD seems promising. I think it was Gwinnett County that has it? The cruiser has them on the front bumper and shoots a gps tracker that sticks to the offender vehicle.

[BehindBlueI's]

I haven’t seen one in person but the Starchaser system I’ve seen used on LivePD seems promising. I think it was Gwinnett County that has it? The cruiser has them on the front bumper and shoots a gps tracker that sticks to the offender vehicle.

I've seen promo videos for it but never saw it in person. That lets you monitor the vehicle but doesn't help you when the driver bails. It's a start, but it lacks some of the utility of a helicopter or video-feed drones would have.

[El Cid]

I've seen promo videos for it but never saw it in person. That lets you monitor the vehicle but doesn't help you when the driver bails. It's a start, but it lacks some of the utility of a helicopter or video-feed drones would have.

Agreed. And they can fall off. Nothing beats air support.

[lwt16]

I'd be fascinated to hear any insight you have into the psychology that's behind that.

.

Some people were born to raise hell.

I remember being pretty shocked after my first few pursuits as to why the violator refused to yield. Usually, it was simply a lack of a valid DL. More times than not, it was nothing that I would consider worth the risks associated with said nefarious activities.

Back in the 90s, I had one where my training officer was sitting in the passenger seat about half asleep and we were watching a four way stop sign in a drug infested part of town. This Buick blew that sign south bound and, of course being young and full of beans, I started after him. It ended up being a huge pursuit through half of town and our Sgt. finally told us to knock it off on the radio. I reached down and turned off the lights and was in the process of braking when the violator pulled over and got out running.

Well, we also stopped and took off after him. I distinctly remember catching him and having to ground fight him. Mid punch I look up and one of our K9s is nose to nose with me growling.....probably saying "hey rookie....get out of the way so I can get my snack"....and I suddenly realized that I was about to get eaten alive by the fur shark.

Once it was all over and the guy was licking his wounds in the back seat, I asked him what the heck? His response was no valid license.....something we wouldn't have really cared about anyway as we were looking for dope, hot guns, and stolen Caprice Classics. He was a small fish in a large pond.....and had he just stopped....it would have been "hey, get this DL fixed and quit being 'that guy' with the stop signs" and back to the hunt.

Regards.

[UNM1136]

I've seen promo videos for it but never saw it in person. That lets you monitor the vehicle but doesn't help you when the driver bails. It's a start, but it lacks some of the utility of a helicopter or video-feed drones would have.

Two local agencies have starchaser, and after my dad's truck was stolen and recovered I have to ask why??? When recovered it is either damaged beyond belief or so full of needles and shit that recovery is an embarrassment. No one wants it. Starchaser gives you a flight initiation point for apprehension, but without sharp ground units and/or a skilled air unit you still only have the location the vehicle. I hate to admit it, but the precog of supervisors requesting spike belts actually seems to be a better gamble. Hell, three years ago it was a super secret squirrel thing that the heli could text flight video directly to the on scene ground commander.

While foreign to me, I think @Dagga Boy 's airborne fire platform is awesome...would that more agencies have the balls....

My agency is a violent felony only chase, if it is safe to do so...

pat