WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas — In the back parking lot of the White Settlement Police Department, the demonstration takes only seconds.
With one push of a button, Officer Bryan Conley sends a GPS tracking dart hurtling from the ram bar on the front of his patrol unit into the liftgate of a car in front -- simulating the deployment of a new device designed to reduce the number of potentially dangerous police chases.
"Whatever it hits, it’s sticking and it is not coming off," Conley explained. "We can track them all day long, whenever this is stuck to the car."
Officers can then follow the car with a GPS signal beamed back to dispatchers, stalking the suspect from a distance rather than following them up close.
"We're going to go cool off for a couple of minutes, let you cool off and then we're going to come back -- on my time now," Conley said.
His boss, Chief Christopher Cook, said he believes this change in tactics is safer.
"Police chases are probably one of the most dangerous activities that a law enforcement officer gets involved in," he explained. "We've had some close calls."
Two years ago, a suspect died after crashing into a tree during one such chase, Cook said. Several others have ended in non-fatal crashes.
The new technology, from company Starchase will allow officers to back off, Cook said, hopefully leading suspects to slow down.
"They don't feel the heat as much so they return to more of a normal speed, they don't run a red light and crash into a family," Cook said.
But it comes at a cost; each device runs $20,000. White Settlement is outfitting more than a dozen patrol units.
"This is an investment in a smart technology that hopefully reduces liability, reduces litigation, reduces injuries and ultimately reduces fatalities," the chief said.
For his officers, it means more time before they eventually recover the car -- and hopefully make an arrest.
"Just kinda do it on our time and not theirs," Conley said.