Culver City's Game-Changer: New GPS Tracker for Police Pursuits

Well LA County has been called the car chase capital of the world and one city is among the first to use new technology to try and bring these wild pursuits to a much safer end Kickouts Jasmineville went to Culver City to check out the new tool that officers can now use Reckless dangerous even deadly Wild police pursuits in Southern California are nothing new We're gonna lose control But Culver City PD has a new tool that they say will make it much safer to find and arrest these criminals It's called Star Chase Uh I'm gonna turn the system on Sergeant John Tropiano's patrol car is one of 3 in the department that can now launch this foam GPS tracking dart that will stick to the fender of a suspect's vehicle during a pursuit with its magnetic adhesive layer Officers like Tropiano can then back off call in resources and track the vehicle from afar as it sends back data on the vehicle's location and speed to dispatch When there's no police actively chasing a suspect vehicle there's a lot of studies that show that if you're no longer chasing the suspect vehicle they'll slow down after a couple minutes Los Angeles County being the capital of police pursuits Captain Andrew Belante wouldn't let us get too close to the dart for security reasons but says this little device is needed now more than ever According to the department there were 33 police pursuits in 2022 and 55 in 2023 That's a forty percent increase and this year it's already set to surpass that number The City Council approved a 3year contract with Starchase Prevent one traffic collision from occurring or one fatality from occurring is