Antoine
02-07-2006, 12:01 AM
LAPD hoping high speed pursuit countermeasure hits bullseye
-AutoBlog
http://www.autoblog.com/media/2006/02/LAPD-resized.jpg (http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1702083,00.html)
Los Angeles is internationally renowned as the capital of high-speed police chases. Long a staple of news broadcasts and Internet crash videos everywhere, the Los Angeles Police Department has made the dangerous pursuits a seemingly regular part of their repertoire, reluctantly or no. But despite their almost clichéd popularity among television rubberneckers, there's no debating tha they remain a scary and dangerous proposition. As such, finding a way of avoiding them altogether has become a high priority... and as the UK Guardian reports, the LAPD may finally have found their silver <STRIKE>bullet</STRIKE> dart.
The prototype system in question employs GPS-enabled air-propelled sticky darts, which when fired from a specially outfitted police vehicle, allows officers to track a fleeing suspect and pursue from a safe distance (or set up road blocks in advance). The firing mechanism (fitted to patrol cars' radiators) has a range of 65 feet, but has never been tested on a moving target.
The system is being test-fitted to a handful of LAPD patrol cars for a four-to-six month trial.
-AutoBlog
http://www.autoblog.com/media/2006/02/LAPD-resized.jpg (http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1702083,00.html)
Los Angeles is internationally renowned as the capital of high-speed police chases. Long a staple of news broadcasts and Internet crash videos everywhere, the Los Angeles Police Department has made the dangerous pursuits a seemingly regular part of their repertoire, reluctantly or no. But despite their almost clichéd popularity among television rubberneckers, there's no debating tha they remain a scary and dangerous proposition. As such, finding a way of avoiding them altogether has become a high priority... and as the UK Guardian reports, the LAPD may finally have found their silver <STRIKE>bullet</STRIKE> dart.
The prototype system in question employs GPS-enabled air-propelled sticky darts, which when fired from a specially outfitted police vehicle, allows officers to track a fleeing suspect and pursue from a safe distance (or set up road blocks in advance). The firing mechanism (fitted to patrol cars' radiators) has a range of 65 feet, but has never been tested on a moving target.
The system is being test-fitted to a handful of LAPD patrol cars for a four-to-six month trial.