Washington County 1st in Utah to commission grappler system for safer end to police chases

SALT LAKE CITY — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office started training on a new technology that could help end car chases more safely. 

Sgt. Lucas Alfred with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office joined KSL’s Inside Sources to talk about the new pursuit intervention technique: the grappler system. 

What is a grappler system? 

The grappler system is a net technology that is outfitted on police vehicles.

During a potential high-speed chase, the grapple system, or a strong net, is deployed from the front of a police vehicle to the fleeing vehicle’s push bumper, near a rear tire. The net will then wrap itself around the tire with a forward momentum, causing it to seize up and stop the wheel. 

The system also tethers the fleeing vehicle to the patrol car, rendering any chase in the vehicle pointless. 

“(For) example, on front wheel drive vehicles, if we’re able to grapple the rear wheel, they still have that traction on front wheels,” Alfred said, “and as they try and pull away, we are literally tethered to them and we could stop their forward momentum.”

Benefits 

Previous pursuit intervention techniques, or PIT maneuvers, included police bumping the back corner of a car causing them to spin out of control and making that vehicle come to a stop.

Spike strips have been another technique used, where police would throw out tire deflation devices in front of fleeing vehicles.

Both spike strips and PIT maneuvers can be effective but could lead to one or both vehicles spinning out of control or even flipping — either from police interference, or from the driver trying to avoid police interference. 

“That creates danger not only to the the public but to officers who are frequently hit by fleeing vehicles because these people are clearly showing that they don’t care about the safety of the public let alone officers and will actively try and injure or kill officers,” Alfred said. 

Officers can safely stop vehicles in a more controlled way with the use of grappler systems. 

“The grappler system is a new technology that is being being used and utilized to stop pursuits in a more safe manner for not only the pursuing officers and deputies, but also for the safety of the public as well, the way it’s able to stop vehicles in a more predictable manner,” Alfred said.

Alfred also said the system can be used at speeds of 70 mph or higher without causing any damage to the vehicle. 

“If you PIT something and a patrol truck is damaged at all, it takes it out of service,” Alfred said. “These nets can be re-equipped and be resent into service within five to 10 minutes.”

How it started and where it’s going 

The system was first developed in 2016 in Arizona and has since slowly been expanding across the nation. Though it’s still not widespread, only 70 agencies across the nation use it currently.

Alfred said officers will still be trained on other PIT maneuvers while learning how the grappler system works.

Officers are able to use the system at speed during a car chase and safety stop a vehicle without getting out of the car. 

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is the first agency in the state of Utah to have adopted this system, and while they’ve had a couple of close calls, Alfred said they still have yet to fully deploy it in a real-life situation. 

Alfred said Wednesday a little over a dozen police vehicles were equipped with the system, and the entire fleet should be done by 2027.

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