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FC CASE PURCHASE OF PURSUIT INTERVENTION DEVICES By: David Gustafson, Police Chief Background: High speed police pursuits continue to draw the attention of law enforcement administrators, legislators and the public. While opinions justifying pursuits vary among these factions, there is agreement that a pursuit of short duration is less dangerous than one that continues. One accepted method of attaining this goal is the use of pursuit intervention devices by law enforcement officers at the earliest possible opportunity during a pursuit. These devices are basically an eighteen foot long bed of nails that is projected across the roadway immediately ahead of the suspect vehicles. This occurs once other law enforcement officers who are not directly involved in the pursuit are able to maneuver to a location some distance ahead of where the vehicle is believed to be heading, then deploy the device once other vehicle traffic is stopped and the deployment site is secure. One such device was used in Ramsey during 1997, when an outside agency was able to get into position for proper, effective deployment. The pursuit ended in less than 300 yards once it had passed the point of deployment. The cost to equip all five patrol vehicles would be two thousand, five hundred dollars ($2,500) or five hundred dollars ($500) per squad. These devices are warranted for five years for damage and replacement of spikes or panels used to stop pursuits. Staff is requesting authorization to purchase five pursuit intervention devices at a cost of $2,500 ($500 each) with the funding supplied from drug forfeiture funds. The drug forfeiture funds are placed in the Peace Officer's Special Revenue Fund and are to be used exclusively for public safety expenditures. Committee Action: Motion to recommend City Council adopt Resolution #98-06- purchase of five pursuit intervention devices. authorizing the Reviewed by: Police Chief City Administrator Finance Officer FC: 06/23/98 jmt/Purinter, doc