Thurston’s County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) approved the Sheriff’s two single-source purchases for six Grappler and five StarChase units to aid in vehicle pursuits.
Grappler is a police bumper mounted on patrol vehicles, and StarChase is a device that shoots GPS darts at fleeing vehicles.
This is the county’s pilot of the two systems, wherein the board and Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) will determine its efficacy versus completely replacing totaled cars from vehicle pursuits.
The board and Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) had work sessions discussing the details of each system.
The Grappler units from Stock Enterprises cost approximately $48,663, and the StarChase units from StarChase cost roughly $42,796, both exclusive of shipping and handling.
“Seeing the rate of accidents that we've had with our patrol cars…now we have to purchase new ones,” said District 1 Commissioner Carolina Mejia. “For me, this is an alternative that we can see if it works.
“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 commented.
The auditor has also approved these single-source procurements. This type of purchase occurs when procurement is only available from one vendor.
During the latest legislative session, voters pushed Initiative 2113 (I-2113), which restored the peace officer's authority to pursue any law violation in Washington state.
The bill states that law enforcement officers with arrest authority may engage in fresh pursuit of a person who is reasonably believed to have committed a violation of traffic or criminal laws or for whom the officer has an arrest warrant. This includes engaging in a vehicular pursuit of a person fleeing in a vehicle.
Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders explained that the requests are related to I-2113 which takes effect on June 6.
“The Sheriff's Office is going to resume pursuing people who flee from us to try and get our criminal stuff under control here in this county,” said Sanders. “We also recognize that there are a number of risks that are inherent to police pursuits especially those that engage at high speed so with that, we put forward these two budget proposals,” said Sanders.
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SheriB
Very excited to see this news! As the saying goes “There’s a new Sheriff in town!”
Thursday, May 2 Report this
Kevcho
There are other technologies that will help curb our current crime issues. A priority for these technological enhanced schemes can go to low level crimes that are not being investigated because of lack of personnel and costs.
Thursday, May 2 Report this
HotTractor
Glad to see our Sheriff is looking into technology that may make apprehending criminals in vehicles safer for civilians and deputies. Vehicle pursuits are one of the most dangerous police activities to deputies and civilians.
Thursday, May 2 Report this