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The New Rulebook: Deploying Stop Stick as a ‘Pursuit Eliminator’ in Washington State
April 11, 2023
By: Zach Madden
Category: Customer Stories, Stop Stick Products, Uncategorized
The New Rulebook: Deploying Stop Stick as a ‘Pursuit Eliminator’ in Washington State
The New Rulebook: Pursuit Prevention for Law Enforcement with no pursuit policies
Stop Stick is committed to providing law enforcement with the tools they need to bring a safe solution to stop pursuits. Stop Stick and our line of Pursuit Prevention Products (Barracuda, Terminator, Patrol Terminator, and Pihrana) provide officers with a safer alternative to end and prevent pursuits.
The New Rulebook:
The New Rulebook: Back in 2021, Washington State Legislature enacted a restricted police pursuit policy that restricts the conditions under which an officer can engage in a vehicular pursuit, this has led the Centralian Police along with other state agencies to resort to alternative tactics including the use of Stop Stick’s Pursuit Prevention Devices to stop pursuits from taking place.
The following article originated from chronline.com (The Chronicle a division of CT Publishing) by Emily Fitzgerald/ emily@chronline.com
(Original Article)
Centralia Police officers first identified a stolen vehicle on Alder Street just after 11:15 a.m. Thursday. Unable to safely stop it or pursue due to restrictions, the driver got away. The driver returned and fled several more times, “taunting us,” said Police Chief Stacy Denham.
After Washington State enacted a restricted pursuit policy in 2021, Chief Denham began looking for alternatives. He found a compact spike strip designed as a “pursuit eliminator,” which can flatten a tire in five seconds. Denham used $3,000 from the budget to buy 40 strips—one for each patrol car—which arrived two weeks prior.
After the initial stop attempts, Denham told his officers to deploy the strips immediately if they saw the car. Centralia officers spotted the car a second time at 1:05 p.m., but it eluded them again.
Later, around 1:10 a.m. Friday, a community member called in the stopped vehicle. A responding officer found the empty car and placed the pursuit eliminator spike strip under the rear tire.
Chief Denham noted, “He didn’t see the person laying inside.” The driver spotted the officer, turned the ignition, and sped away.
But the rear driver’s side tire was flat. Denham explained the successful effect: “Instead of 100 miles per hour, it’s going to go 50 miles an hour.”
The damaged vehicle still blew through stop signs and fled toward the Rochester area. An officer loosely followed, predicting the car would stop because of the flat tire.
Fortunately, Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET) officers and a K9 were nearby. They responded and took the driver, a 48-year-old Bremerton man, into custody around 1:35 a.m. Friday. Police booked him into the Lewis County Jail.
Denham praised the operation: “It was just really good police work… the preparations that we’ve been trying to do actually paid off.” He added that addressing pursuit restrictions remains a main priority for the legislative session.
The New Rulebook: Check out King5.com to see how Centralia are preventing pursuits before they begin.
See Stop Sticks Pursuit Prevention in action:
Video provided by Newburgh Police Department [OH]
The New Rulebook: UPDATE:
As of April 12, 2023 The washington House has voted to roll back the police pursuit restrictions.
https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article274192485.html