Police are now able to shoot a tracker from the front of their car onto the trunk of a suspect’s vehicle to stop them getting away.
The technology reduces the need for police pursuits which can be dangerous, deadly and futile in some cases.
All police have to do is hit a button inside their vehicle and a lid pops up from the car’s grille and a tracking bullet shoots out and sticks to the car in front of them.
“If you had told me 16 years ago that I would have had a cannon on the front of my car, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Iowa State Patrol Trooper Tim Sieleman told the Des Moines Register.
Sieleman said they were able to use the technology only last week during a pursuit in western Iowa.
“I was able to tag a vehicle and back completely out of” the chase, he said. “We shut it down, tracked him over into Omaha.
“After they think the officer has disengaged, they back down to normal speeds to blend in with traffic so they don’t get noticed again,” Sieleman said.
The police fleet in Iowa only has one vehicle equipped with the technology, largely because each system costs $5000 and each round is $500. However there are plans to install the technology into five more cars very soon.
The Iowa State Patrol was involved in 87 pursuits between October 25, 2012, and October 25, 2013.
Des Moines Police Sergeant Jason Halifax questions whether the GPS launcher would be effective in big cities.
While troopers often chase suspects on long, straight highways, Des Moines police are more likely to be taking tight turns on city streets, where it’s more difficult to drive close behind a fleeing suspect.
“It doesn’t seem like that feasible of an option for us in town,” Sgt. Halifax said. “But we certainly are open to new things.”
The GPS launcher raises legal questions, Sgt. Halifax said. If police lose sight of the suspect vehicle and find it later, how are they to prove who was driving it during the chase?
This story originally appeared on News.com.au.