On Tuesday, Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce told Raleigh City Council that RPD will invest in GPS technology in an effort to make the city safer from potentially dangerous chases.
At least five pursuits have occurred in the last week. In response, Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce has emphasized the urgent need to implement strategies that minimize risks associated with these dangerous chases.
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"When I was selected as chief, I asked my senior leadership to find equipment with identifying equipment that we can use here in the capital city to bring vehicle pursuits to a safe end," Boyce said.
Thanks to funding from the Raleigh Police Department Foundation, RPD will be investing in StarChase. According to the company’s website, StarChase provides multiple GPS technology solutions for various public safety and government agencies around the world.
The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office has already implemented the technology and demonstrated its functionality on its Facebook page in November. In the event of a car driving off after being pulled over or a chase becoming too dangerous, an officer can use one of StarChase's vehicle-mounted launchers and shoot a GPS tag onto the car driving away.
"Just think of it as an AirTag that law-enforcement deploy on a vehicle that is fleeing a lawful traffic stop," Boyce said.
The need for a safer alternative became evident following several high-speed chases in January, some of which involved gunfire and property damage.
Law enforcement have told WRAL News in the past that road pursuits, and their varying intensity, have become a continual balancing act. According to the NC Sheriffs’ Association, the decision to pursue a fleeing suspect is less about whether an agency can, and more about whether they should.
“To have a pursuit, you have to have a citizen who is refusing to stop and then trying to flee at a high rate of speed before the officer will even get engaged,” said Eddie Caldwell, the Executive VP and General Counsel of the NC Sheriffs’ Association.
WRAL News in 2024 reported that police chases in North Carolina had more than doubled in a three-year stretch, with 24 people dying from pursuits in 2022.
- 2019: 454 chases.
- 2022: 1,053 chases.
Caldwell said most agencies’ policies state they must consider a suspect’s danger to the public, the weather, and even the traffic before they decide to engage. Risks are weighed throughout the course of the pursuit.
According to Boyce, Raleigh police officers stopped using stop sticks in the early 2000s, and has been actively seeking a more effective solution. StarChase, he says, presents an opportunity to protect both officers and other drivers on the road by mitigating the dangers associated with high-speed pursuits.
"It allows us as law-enforcement to safely track a fleeing vehicle without engaging in a high-speed pursuit," Boyce said.