Suburban Chicago police use tracking dart to catch burglary suspects

OAK BROOK, Ill — Authorities in the west suburbs of Chicago stopped a burglary in progress Thursday, leading to a police pursuit on the Eisenhower Expressway, but officers were eventually able to catch the two suspects thanks to the help of a police tracking dart.

The GPS tracking dart called “Star Chase” is a small device that is having a big impact on police pursuits.

Oak Brook police said they are using the tracking darts on a nearly weekly basis. Other suburban departments including Elmhurst and Willow Brook have them too, and now some city of Chicago aldermen are showing interest in getting the technology for the Chicago Police Department.

“If you would have told me, I started 24 years ago, that we’d be shooting GPS darts out of the front of a squad car I would have said that you’re crazy, you know, but technology is advancing so much, especially in law enforcement, that it’s just, it’s amazing to see where we’ve come,” Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis said.

At around 4:45 a.m. Thursday, officers in Oak Park arrested two suspects who allegedly fled from Elmhurst to Oak Park on Interstate 290 after breaking into a liquor store.

Neighboring police agencies were alerted and an officer from Oak Brook was able to get behind the fleeing vehicle to deploy the GPS tracking dart, which shoots out of the front of a squad car’s bumper.

“An officer presses a button and it heats up an epoxy for the actual dart. That dart has a GPS tracking device inside of it and also has a very strong magnet that shoots out of the front of the bumper of the squad car and affixes itself to the back of the fleeing vehicle,” Strockis said.

The officer can then back off, pull up a computer screen and track the location of the car being pursued.

During Thursday’s pursuit, the GPS information was relayed to Oak Park police after the vehicle exited at Austin, leading to the suspects’ arrests.

“We can stop police pursuits sooner, keep the motoring public safer while still apprehending dangerous criminals,” Elmhurst Police Chief Michael McLean said.

In 2020, a pursuit from the south suburbs ended in a deadly crash on Chicago’s North Side, resulting in the death of an innocent bystander. It led to changes to the Chicago Police Department’s pursuit policy.

“Our tac sergeant just testified at a council meeting for Chicago and talked about the benefits and successes that we’ve had, and there was some discussion relating to first implementing them on some specialized units,” Strockis said.

The police and fire committee are interested in Chicago police potentially using the technology. Each unit costs about $7,000.

“If we put them on you know, 100 cars and it costs us $70,000, and we save a lot of money because of it, then it was well worth it, you know,” 38th Ward Alderman Nick Sposato said. “One settlement, we don’t have many settlements that are in the tens or twenty thousand of course we only get stuff 100,00 or more.”

NewsNation affiliate WGN found between 2015 and 2020 the city of Chicago shelled out nearly $100 million in settlements from police pursuit crashes.

WGN did reach Chicago police for comment on the Star Chase GPS darts but has not heard back.

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