Woodbury police aim to cut down on high-speed chases with new tracking darts

The Woodbury Police Department has joined a handful of metro-area agencies using StarChase, a GPS tracking system that aims to eliminate the need for high-speed chases. The system fires a sticky dart about the size of a pill bottle onto the rear of a fleeing vehicle. A GPS tag inside the dart allows authorities to track the vehicle anywhere in the U.S. It's not yet been used in Woodbury, but the system is installed on seven Woodbury squad cars and could be used to track stolen vehicles, said Sgt. Chris Donohoe.

"We want to minimize high speed pursuits, because they put the public and officers and suspects at risk," he said. The city bought eight systems at a cost of $60,000, according to a city spokesman.

Tracking devices typically require a warrant, but state law was changed recently to allow police to use the trackers without a warrant on stolen vehicles. It's broader use has been limited by Constitutional concerns. Police pursuits led to 432 fatal crashes in the U.S. in 2021; on average, about one police pursuit a day turned fatal for the past five years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.