Skip to main content

US police use GPS tracker darts

Police in Florida and Iowa are using a GPS tracking system that shoots a dart-like tracker at a target vehicle, enabling them to remain a safe distance behind, but still have a way of tracking the vehicle’s location and speed.
September 2, 2014 Read time: 1 min

Police in Florida and Iowa are using a GPS tracking system that shoots a dart-like tracker at a target vehicle, enabling them to remain a safe distance behind, but still have a way of tracking the vehicle’s location and speed.

The system being enables police to shoot the GPS tracker from an air cannon that is attached to the front of a police car; the tracker sticks to the vehicle and tags it. Once the GPS tracker is attached to the vehicle, police are able to monitor its speed and location from a remote location via a real time map, without the need for a potentially dangerous high speed chase.

Related Content

  • Traffic management turns to machine vision
    June 1, 2016
    Traffic engineers can use the latest advances in vision technology to streamline and enhance traffic management. The idea of using one camera to perform all functions at an intersection is attractive to authorities for many reasons and camera supplier Gridsmart says it can make this happen. Its Bell Camera offers a horizon to horizon view that includes the centre of the intersection where vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians cross paths and it can be used for traffic light actuation, traffic data collection a
  • Financing the US road infrastructure – road user charging?
    February 2, 2012
    In the US, the National Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission's report to Congress will state that a national, distance-based charging is the only long-term solution to the country's infrastructure financing problems. The Commission's Chair, Rob Atkinson, talks to ITS International
  • Financing the US road infrastructure – road user charging?
    February 2, 2012
    In the US, the National Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission's report to Congress will state that a national, distance-based charging is the only long-term solution to the country's infrastructure financing problems. The Commission's Chair, Rob Atkinson, talks to ITS International
  • New Hampshire plans for tomorrow’s communication
    August 21, 2017
    Someone once likened predicting the future to ‘nailing a jelly to the wall’. With ITS, C-ITS and V2X technology progressing at such a pace, predicting the future is more akin to trying to nail three jellies to the wall – but only having one nail. And yet with roadways having a lifetime measured in decades, that is exactly what highway engineers and traffic planners are expected to do. Fortunately, New Hampshire DoT (NHDoT) believes its technological advances may be able to provide a solution. The Central Ne