9 thoughts on “New Device Helps Police With Car Chases”

1. While I think the idea for the device is cool, I just don’t see it being very useful for everyday use. The situation would have to be absolutely perfect for it to work. First of all, the police car has to be in close proximity with the suspect’s vehicle just to get the tracking device onto said vehicle. When a police officer stops a car, they most likely get out of their car and would no longer be in the area to activate the device. Suspects already on the run would be going so fast I doubt it would be easy for a police car to get close and even if it did I doubt there would be an easy, clear shot to launch the device. I also don’t really see how this cuts down on car chases. The device that attaches to the suspect’s car is not discrete at all and is easy to spot. I’m sure as soon as the suspect parked they would see it and work to knock it off, getting rid of any potential tracking ability the police did have. The police car would basically have to keep up with the suspect the whole time anyway to make sure this doesn’t happen, and if the police car is keeping up with the suspect that suspect is going to hit the gas.

2. I think this is awesome. It’s a way to help police catch criminals on the run. I think things like this are great for society especially if it helps the safety of random drivers on the road during a car chase. The only down side is it could cause other drivers to be distracted or cause more car crashes. I found a similar article on a different device that stops car chases.

   http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/grappler-police-bumper-arizona-man-invents-device-to-stop-pursuit-suspects

3. I think that this is a very clever and useful new technology. At its base, the idea is very simple- shooting a tracking device onto the bad guy’s car, just like in futuristic sci-fi movies. Police regulations and procedure hasn’t changed very drastically in the past 50 or so years, and there has always been a wide margin for error during any old traffic stop- anything could happen. This new technology just makes that margin for error much smaller, as one of the simplest ways to avoid the police during a traffic stop is to just speed away. That is no longer a possibility for perps at traffic stops, as long as the proper training is given.

4. To be honest, when I first read your post, I am not really surprised that the police comes up with the idea of using GPS technology to chase getaway cars because GPS technology is so common in our daily life. We can use it to navigate us to almost any places we want. But why is the idea of using GPS technology by the policy recently brought out? One reason could be the technology aspect. We can easily find others with detectable devices on both individual, while the technology of locating others with a single device can be challenging. But if we think about this carefully, it is not hard to find out that, this device, StarChase, can locate cars without owner’s permission. This brought us to an ethical problem that we have been discussed for half of the semester. Technology has totally invaded our privacy. With this device, the police, or anyone with this device can easily locate any cars they want. Even if the company would only sell this device to the police department and put them on police cars, I believe that not all police are good people. There are so many conflicts between police and citizens and complains about the misbehavior conducted by the police. If we put all the problems listed above away, and assume that the police are all good, and the device would only be used to chase getaway cars, there can also be a situation that hackers can hack into these devices and interfere the signal of that device to prevent them from functioning. Looking at the price of the device and the potential problems listed above, although it is true that this device would make people on the street safer when the police is chasing getaway cars, I would say that there is still room for improvement on this device.

   Source: https://newatlas.com/starchase-gps-police-tracking/29590/

5. Breaking this new technology down, I see how it could really benefit the safety of a high speed chase. Not only are these chases dangerous for civilians involved or nearby but I see how it could help with the police officer’s safety. Allowing the squad car to tag the suspects vehicle, safely, which then negates the need to follow the car as closely. However, I do see an ultimate flaw of this, that being a police car must be close to the suspect in the first place in order to attach the device. This more or less makes the device obsolete for the officer would have to chase and get close enough to the suspects car to actually place the device. Kind of a moot point.

6. This technology seems extremely useful in certain situations but I think those situations are limited. For instance, if a police pulls someone over. While the police stepped out of his/her car and asked the driver for license and registration, the driver suddenly decided to just stepped on the gas. By the time the police gets back to his/her car, the driver would already have a decent head start and could go to a more crowded road where shooting and trying to get this device attached. There are also other instances where using this device might be a little challenging and might not perform the way it should like in certain weather conditions or gps connectivity issues. For its price, I do not think this device is currently worth it.
   https://www.theverge.com/2013/10/31/5051352/gps-cannons-could-take-the-danger-out-of-police-car-chases-but-are

7. This idea is good for the reasons mentioned in the article. Safer car pursuits, and deterring people from fleeing the scene in the first place are both positives, but there are some logistical problems. Being born in PA I always see lifted trucks whenever I’m on the road. If this device is placed on the front of a typical police sedan the tracking device would just shoot under the truck and not make contact. On the other hand, if the car is a police SUV the tracking device could potentially shoot over a smaller car and cause complications down the road. If they made this device height adjustable to the car they are pursuing I believe it would function great for the police force.

8. I thoroughly am interested in the advance of technology to help law enforcement. However, I think this idea poses both an ethical question and a safety issue. Is it legal to track a citizen who isn’t convicted of something. I feel as though it infringes on the right of the normal citizen to track them if they are not proven guilty. Furthermore, I think there might be a safety issue here as well. This projectile would be relying GPS and hydraulics to insure the “bot” ending up on the vehicle in front of them. There are many places for error in this situation as it could miss and hit someone else, malfunction, or even simply damage the vehicle in front of them from impact. I am interested in the advance of technology helping law enforcement but I do not think this is the way to go.

9. This is an interesting idea, but it definitely poses an ethical question. Could this idea be used for evil? With increasing distrust of the police, this can definitely increase suspicion and also be misused easily. In addition, I am skeptical that it would actually decrease the number of police chases. How else would the police catch the getaway car? What if the police get the wrong suspect or car? If criminals catch on, could they create a car crash to get this device off of it (by stopping quickly to make the car behind them rear end their bumper, thus crushing or dislodging this device). Again, cool idea, but it makes me worry a little.