3 Comments

We had them in all our cars. The policy of being behind cover capable of stopping a vehicle at speed made deployment a low probability. I tried twice, terrifying once and too late to get set up the other. The only successful deployment I saw got the suspect vehicle, 2 cars from my agency needed 4 tires and 2 from other agencies lost at least 2.

Risk definitely outweighs reward. My agency policy on pursuits was so restrictive it basically made them impractical. My hometown is much smaller, they chase a lot more, and I've heard in passing have had more injuries from their use. Would be interesting if agencies tracked the data on them

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While in training between 2008 and 2013 we took steps to remove these devices from our troops, the tactics of deployment short of being behind a cement pillar at a toll booth made it impossible to do safely, we got rid of them citing numerous cases around the country where we were intentionally placing our people in no win situations. I cant believe this is still a tactic utilized, so much for learning from our past mistakes.

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Thank you for that feedback. I'm glad to hear that those got eliminated. There is no reliable data on officer injury or that of bystanders or offenders.

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