A new system installed on multiple South Dakota Highway Patrol vehicles is capable of launching a small tracker onto a fleeing vehicle, enabling troopers to monitor it in real-time using GPS technology.
The tracking system, known as StarChase, is designed to enable troopers to back off during a chase while keeping track of a suspect until an arrest can be made, the Highway Patrol said in an Aug. 22 news release.
The agency already uses a plane during pursuits to provide updates on a suspect's movements, which reduces the need for troopers on the ground to follow them at dangerous speeds.
“Both StarChase and the airplane give us safer alternatives,” Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Casey Collins said in the news release. “Technology allows us to slow things down, protect innocent motorists and still bring suspects into custody.”
Related: California man indicted in South Dakota after meth-seizure on Interstate 90
What is StarChase?
StarChase provides "multiple GPS technology solutions to public safety and government agencies worldwide," with more than 10,000 tracking tags successfully deployed, its website says. Police in other states have also used the tracking system, including in neighboring Minnesota, according to multiple local news reports.
The Milwaukee Police Department in Wisconsin began equipping its vehicles with StarChase technology in 2015, but discontinued its use in 2019, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. A department spokesperson said at the time it was discontinued primarily because suspects knew how the devices worked and were removing them from their vehicles.
How many people are killed in police chases in South Dakota?
At least 3,336 people died in police chases nationwide from 2017 to 2022, according to a San Francisco Chronicle database.
South Dakota had the 10th-highest death rate from police chases from 2017 to 2021, with 13 deaths – or 15 deaths per million residents, the database says.
Ken Prorok, chief deputy sheriff in Moody County, north of Sioux Falls, was killed in 2024 when he was struck by a suspect's vehicle while trying to deploy a spike strip during a police chase.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota Highway Patrol rolls out GPS launchers for car chases
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