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No More Car Chases In LA

Several years ago I heard that a police officer today is little better equiped then an officer from the 1950's.

But tazers, in-car computers, Spike Strips, and "GPS gumballs" all give officers ways to do the same job in a safer way. I have heard of a lot of other technologies that just haven't made their way into police departments yet. This is really exciting stuff.

I wonder if that adhesive is going to damage the finish of the vehicle...
 
They showed a demonstration of this on the local news here. They shot the dart (it looked like a ball with a tail) onto the back of a car to show how easy it was (at least when the suspect is within target distance). Perhaps they will follow cars by helicopter, just not with patrol cars on the ground, so they can watch for the suspect to stop and get out.

I've never understood why they have a particular patrol car or cars follow a suspect as long as the chase goes on, instead of handing it off to police ahead on the route.

On the freeway, perhaps they could line up a convoy of police cars, one in each lane, a mile ahead of the suspect, gradually slowing down, so the suspect can't pass them?

Of course, having a huge helicopter pick up the suspect's car with a giant magnet sounds best of all. It always works in action movies!
 
That's pretty awesome. I didn't know LA was the "car chase" city. Anyway, this new technology could be really cool to read about in the future. Less morons on the street = better environment for the rest of us

(even though I live in New Jersey)
 
Hm... market for golf-ball sized things with tails as a sort of twisted status symbol... I mean, you already have the stick-on-things for the windshield that look like baseballs/softballs/golf balls/ tennis balls sticking halfway out and "cracks" around its circumfrence... and the fake "bullet holes" you can stick on... why not these?

Anyhow, sounds like a great idea to me: fewer injuries, less property damage...
 
I use to see those car chases all the time when I lived over there. Also I have been stopped for speeding and I remember the cop thought for a second that I wasn't going to stop (I didn't see the cop immediately) so I continued to drive fast. He let me go with a warning.
 
Doctor Q said:
Of course, having a huge helicopter pick up the suspect's car with a giant magnet sounds best of all. It always works in action movies!
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I'd rather have big grappling hooks shot out of guns mounted on the cop cars. Then just reel the offending vehicle in.
 
A good idea - it might cut down on chases even before they start because the crooks will know that once they are hit with the tracker they have nowhere to hide unless they ditch the car. I'd rather have these scumbags fleeing on foot than driving like maniacs.

emw said:
I'd rather have big grappling hooks shot out of guns mounted on the cop cars. Then just reel the offending vehicle in.
Click to expand...

They've tried that, but at highway speeds there's a risk of rolling the fleeing car and wiping out the attached police cruiser too. It does work at lower speeds though.
 
MacFan782040 said:
How do you shoot it with acuracy when their speeding at 70+ MPH?
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You don't actually shoot it...it's basically attached to the front of the police cruiser. You ram the speeder's car in the back and the barbs on the harpoon extend, locking the cars together. The police cruiser then brakes to stop the whole shebang. Even at well over 70mph A Crown Vic cop car has more than enough grunt to ram a fleeing car, but it's the stopping part that's hard - you tend to lose control.
 
emw said:
I'd rather have big grappling hooks shot out of guns mounted on the cop cars. Then just reel the offending vehicle in.
Click to expand...

and here i am picturing something out of hellraiser - several hooked chains attaching to the car and tearing it apart. :D weeeeeee! how "medival on his ass" can we get here? hmmmmm :p
i'm twisted, what can i say?
 
They could simply lower a huge circular concrete barrier all around the car. It would hit the inside of the barrier without hurting anything surrounding it.

Of course, this is just a way to catch the "suspect", so that might be an eensy weensy bit draconian.
 
Hmm a very good idea, I just hope that dart is really sticky... otherwise once the cops drop out of sight the dastardly crook might pull over his silver or black civic (or other dime-a-dozen looking car) remove it and either leave it on the side of the road or stick it to another similar car they drive by.... :cool:

I can see all those criminals using teflon wax, or goof-off on the back of their cars :D
 
Wouldn't this be one of those things that would have been better NOT to be announced to the public? Now people are expecting it...
 
Doctor Q said:
Perhaps they will follow cars by helicopter, just not with patrol cars on the ground, so they can watch for the suspect to stop and get out.
Click to expand...

they could just follow the car in an undercover car. its not always a black crown vic like some people think. i've seen light green jeep liberties undercover in use by the NYPD. who knows what else they have. then, when the person stops, they can just run out with their guns pointed and arrest him/her.
 
yankeefan24 said:
they could just follow the car in an undercover car. its not always a black crown vic like some people think. i've seen light green jeep liberties undercover in use by the NYPD. who knows what else they have. then, when the person stops, they can just run out with their guns pointed and arrest him/her.
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Around here in CT we have undercover explorers in town, there are some undercover crown vics around, but they do have chyslers on the highway. Its not like you don't notice them when they have lights in the back window, on the dashboard, and a big antenna on the trunks.
 
unmarked != undercover. Unmarked cars usually stand out as well, but they're harder to spot at speed, since they usually don't have a light bar. Undercover cars are usually very discreet. No light bars, no huge antenna, no lights in the rear window. They can be anything, usually domestic, but not necessarily.
 
wait til they can get an electro magnetic pulse (EMP) beam narrow enough to hit only a single vehicle. That will be the ultiimate solution. Fry the cars electronics and the vehicle will be disabled immediately. :D
 
electronboy said:
wait til they can get an electro magnetic pulse (EMP) beam narrow enough to hit only a single vehicle. That will be the ultiimate solution. Fry the cars electronics and the vehicle will be disabled immediately. :D
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Would that do anything to the gear necessary to run the spark plugs? Because if someone's driving a classic with no ECU or anything, that would be pretty useless.
 
Counterfit said:
Would that do anything to the gear necessary to run the spark plugs? Because if someone's driving a classic with no ECU or anything, that would be pretty useless.
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I dont believe so. It going to fry almost any car on the road because your spark plugs work off a cylinode (sp). basicly it is a capictitor the EMP is going to blow thoses. Not stored charge, No spark, No go. The gear system just would release the stored charge to the spark plugs.
 
what LA really needs is spiderman! :D

on a serious related note, i know the technology exists for lightweight but super-strong netting. i've always wondered why it was never implamented in these types of situations. net that across the freeway and end of pursuit. the fleeing car will be all excited "oh look, the cops are backing off of me" and BAM, nothin but net. i think it would be less devistating than a spike strip which can cause a serious accident <shrugs> maybe it's extremely expensive, i don't know, but i know it exists.
 
iBlue said:
what LA really needs is spiderman! :D

on a serious related note, i know the technology exists for lightweight but super-strong netting. i've always wondered why it was never implamented in these types of situations. net that across the freeway and end of pursuit. the fleeing car will be all excited "oh look, the cops are backing off of me" and BAM, nothin but net. i think it would be less devistating than a spike strip which can cause a serious accident <shrugs> maybe it's extremely expensive, i don't know, but i know it exists.
Click to expand...

What would you attach the netting to?

Greg
 
The cops in my neighborhood use Impalas and Crown Vics as unmarked cars. The Impalas are more discreet but they are slower and less rugged than the big Ford. If you ride over a curb or railroad tracks in an Impala at speed you're likely to tear important bits off the car, while the 'Vic will keep going. One local community uses green Dodge Intrepids that blend in really nice. Unmarked cars are great for traffic stops but in a high-speed chase I'd rather be in a 'Vic or one of the Highway patrol's Z28 Camaros. I've seen video footage from chases in Commiefornia where the cops were using Nissan Maximas.

I'd like to see more Chrysler 300M/Dodge Charger cop cars - those would look pretty intimidating.

A lot of nearby suburban areas seem to be switching to SUVs (mostly Explorers) for unmarked cars, which is silly - they handle like crap, are slow and have worse fuel economy than even the Crown Vic with its big V8. Not to mention they roll over a bit too often.

iBlue said:
on a serious related note, i know the technology exists for lightweight but super-strong netting. i've always wondered why it was never implamented in these types of situations. net that across the freeway and end of pursuit. the fleeing car will be all excited "oh look, the cops are backing off of me" and BAM, nothin but net. i think it would be less devistating than a spike strip which can cause a serious accident <shrugs> maybe it's extremely expensive, i don't know, but i know it exists.
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I don't think they'd be able to anchor it down to the ground securely enough to stop a car. Yes, they do it on aircraft carriers but there is a LOT of metal holding those down.

Actually I think the GPS gumballs are a very good idea because they encourage the fleeing car to stop on it's own, since it can't evade detection. That's safer than trying to forcefully stop a car.
 
p0intblank said:
That's pretty awesome. I didn't know LA was the "car chase" city.
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Yeah, the only car chase I have ever seen on the news is the OJ Simpson one, which was ridiculous anyway since they were obviously chasing an innocent man around the city.
 
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