To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. MILESTONE1 A new device may render police chases safer. The long, sticky arms of the law BY LAKSHMI SANDHANA, SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT ON JAN 22, 2002, KRISTIE PRIANO, A 15-YEAR-OLD HONOR STUDENT, WAS KILLED ON HER WAY TO A HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL GAME WHEN THE MINIVAN HER FAMILY WAS IN WAS HIT BY A TEENAGER FLEEING THE POLICE IN HER CAR. CAUGHT AT THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME, PRIANO, AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER, DIED THE SAME DAY. SAN FRANCISCO POLICE OFFICER NICK-TOMASITO BIRCO WAS KILLED ON JULY 26, 2006, WHEN HIS PATROL CAR WAS STRUCK BY A STOLEN VAN BEING PURSUED BY OTHER OFFICERS. HIS CAR SPUN OUT OF CONTROL AND HIT A UTILITY POLE, WHILE THE VAN OCCUPIED BY SUSPECTS WHO HAD JUST COMMITTED AN ARMED ROBBERY CRASHED AFTER HITTING TWO BUILDINGS. Unfortunately, there are just too many incidents of people dying every year due to high-speed police pursuits. It’s just too risky to stop fleeing drivers, since they can’t be shot at for fear of harming hostages, and there’s always the possibility of the driver losing control and swerving into other vehicles. Since chases have turned out to be so dangerous, many agencies are severely curtailing their pursuit policies. Right now, officers have just a few effective methods at their disposal. “In the single car method, a police officer chases the vehicle without back-up (which is not wise) in the hopes that the offender will stop,” Tod Burke, a professor of criminal justice at Radford University in Virginia and a former Maryland police officer, told Homeland Security Today. “Sometimes, the officer (if trained properly) can bump the rear of the suspect vehicle at such an angle that the suspect vehicle will spin and stop. While this maneuver has worked, it also presents great risk to the driver, officer (if the officer does not effectively use the proper technique) and the public (if other vehicles strike the suspect’s car). The multiple car method requires multiple police units to follow a suspect in hopes that the offender will stop. Sometimes, just the mere show of force will have the suspect re-think his actions and come to a halt (but certainly don’t count on it). Regardless of how many officers are involved, police chases usually do not end well for the subject, the officer or innocent citizens.” The statistics available on high-speed police chases are grim, to say the least. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) 2007 report, 424 people were killed in 2007 alone. There’s a good chance that these figures are underreported since reports of deaths are submitted only on a voluntary basis by agencies and police departments. NHTSA statistics further reveal that 40 percent of all high-speed police chase cases end in accidents, 20 percent in injuries and 1 percent in death. The tragedy is that most of these deaths are preventable. More than 3,000 innocent bystanders have been killed due to police chases since 1982, and thousands more are injured annually. “I’d say there’s always an urgent need in law enforcement for any technology that can help us do anything better or faster,” Police Officer William Martin of the Davenport Iowa Police Department told Homeland Security Today. “Anything that’s relatively intuitive, reusable, affordable and can be quickly deployed to help officers safely end vehicle pursuits would be good for us and the citizens of the cities we protect.” Current technologies The only viable technologies currently available to police officers to stop fleeing vehicles are “stop sticks,” or “spike sticks,” that contain metal spikes that puncture tires. The device causes tires to deflate once the fleeing vehicle runs over it. While it sounds excellent in principle, it has many operational drawbacks. “Most of the time, ‘spike strips’ cause the fleeing vehicle to become disabled and ends the pursuit, but there have been situations in which the vehicle has continued to flee,” said Thomas Nolan, associate professor of criminal justice at Boston University, Boston, Mass., and a former Boston police officer for 27 years. “They’re dangerous to deploy because the officers have to enter the roadway to deploy the spike strips and enter it again when the vehicle becomes disabled. Officers have been struck and killed in the highways and roads in the course of doing so. So the devices are controversial, pose a real threat to officer safety and, thus, are not in use by all law enforcement agencies.” Just how dangerous they are could be seen on Jan. 19,2008,when US Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar was killed while laying down spike strips. He was deliberately struck by a Hummer fleeing into Mexico from the United States. “We’ve all seen the videos of cars that roll on rims for several more blocks or miles,” added Martin. “The danger in this is that by deflating or destroying the tires on the vehicle, it loses a large degree of maneuverability and stability, which could potentially pose a problem on the tight confines of city and residential streets, as 16 May 2009 | Homeland Security Today Magazine This month’s issue is now available online at…