The Board of County Commissioners approved purchases of both technologies on Tuesday.
Sheriff Derek Sanders had been seeking approval from the board to buy and pilot a small number of trackers and nets in anticipation of rollbacks of state laws limiting police pursuits. Sanders previously advocated for the rollbacks, which the state legislature passed in February. The changes are expected to go into effect in June.
When addressing the board, Sanders said deputies will resume pursuing more people who flee from them to "try and get our criminal stuff under control." However, he said he still wants to mitigate risk where possible.
"We know that police pursuits do result in injury and death sometimes," Sanders said. "Anytime that we can invest in this stuff to prevent that, I think is a pretty good investment on behalf of the county."
County documents describe each technology as a "high-speed pursuit alternative" that is intended to reduce the risk to deputies and the community.
The GPS trackers attach to a fleeing vehicle after being deployed from a mechanism mounted on the front of a patrol vehicle, according to county documents. Deputies can then disengage from the pursuit and continue following the suspect vehicle's location data through a mapping platform.
The grapple nets are also mounted on the front of a patrol vehicle. When deployed, the net gets caught in the rear tire of a fleeing vehicle, tethering it to the patrol vehicle.
This allows the patrol vehicle to force the vehicle to stop without performing a precision immobilization technique (PIT) maneuver. Such a maneuver can cause a fleeing vehicle to spin out and damage both the patrol vehicle and fleeing vehicle, Sanders said.
"They don't change the appearance of the patrol car," Sanders said. "They're both going to still have push bars on them. The StarChase unit is very discreet up in the bumper. The grappler just looks like a normal push bar until it folds down."
The board approved purchases of five tracker units from a company called StarChase for $42,796 plus shipping and handling. They also approved buying six grappler units from Stock Enterprises for $48,663 plus shipping and handling.
During an earlier Tuesday meeting, Sanders told the board he intends to absorb the cost of the purchases with staff vacancy savings in his budget.
Sanders said his office is applying for a state grant to either purchase more tracker and grappler units or additional pursuit alternative technologies in the future.
The board had to approve the purchases Tuesday because they were single source purchases, meaning they were sought without competitive bidding.
Commissioner Emily Clouse abstained from the vote. Though she commended Sanders for exploring safer pursuit alternatives, she said she has fiscal concerns about buying these with county funds rather than grant funding.
"My concern is that relying on vacancy savings will provide short-term coverage for the expense but could negatively impact the general fund in the long term as we go into contract negotiations later this year," Clouse said.
Commissioner Wayne Fournier called the previous restrictions on police pursuits a "failed experiment" and thanked Sanders for his efforts.
"This is you looking out and trying things that are outside the box to ensure that you can do your job safely," Fournier said.
In addition to liability concerns, accidents during police pursuits can destroy patrol vehicles, requiring the county to buy costly replacements, Commissioner Carolina Mejia said.
She said she looks forward to seeing the new technology when it arrives.
"I like the approach of making it a pilot program instead of just equipping all the cars to see if it works for our community," Mejia said. "We'll see once the grappler comes on board."
Sanders told the board he expects the grappler and tracker units to be ready for use by July to allow for shipping, set-up and training.
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