Belle Meade police use GPS tracking dart to stop stolen truck
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Belle Meade police used their new GPS tracking system to stop a stolen vehicle.
This is the second time in a month the police department has fired the tracking dart at a stolen car. According to investigators, in both instances the vehicle targeted was recovered and the driver arrested.
The latest incident happened Sunday, March 3. That’s when license plate recognition cameras alerted officers to a Chevy Silverado stolen out of Cheatham County.
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Officers said they later discovered the truck was being driven by 53-year-old April Reddick.
As Belle Meade officers pulled the Pegram woman over, Sgt. David Wright deploys a tracking dart that fired from the police car’s front grill and adhered to the rear of the pick up truck, according to police.
“Be advised, I have successfully darted it in case it takes off,” Wright said on radio.
According to Belle Meade police, the veteran officer deployed the GPS dart in case Reddick tried to make a run for it.
Lt. Mack Mangrum told News 2 the officer didn’t want to take chances of Reddick accelerating away as he was getting out of the patrol car to initiate contact.
“Typically if they are going to take off after the stop, it is on the officer’s approach. So Sgt. Wright was making an effort to track them,” Mangrum said.
In this case, the Wright successfully removed Reddick’s keys and arrested her without incident. Mangrum said the officer was in a good situation either way thanks to the tracking dart already affixed to the truck.
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“Exactly. If someone takes off on him, he is able to pull it up on the screen in the car and track the vehicle’s movement, and also we can get other agencies involved,” Mangrum said.
This is the second time Belle Meade police have implemented the GPS dart system in just three weeks.
The first incident happened on Wednesday, Feb. 13th, when a teenager driving a stolen Hyundai rolled through Belle Meade. The officer reportedly tagged the car just before the teen saw the police car behind him. The teen then accelerated, getting up to speeds almost double the limit, but because officers were tracking the stolen Hyundai in real time, they backed off as the suspect sped away at 81 mph, according to investigators.
After a while, when the teen didn’t see any blue lights, he slowed his speed, effectively putting less motorists in danger.
Knowing exactly where the teenager was on a coordinated map inside the police car, officers coordinated with Metro police and safely took the suspect into custody at an apartment complex.
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“It increases public safety because the officer doesn’t feel obligated to chase the vehicle down if they do flee, because we can track them for quite some time with that dart attached to that vehicle,” Mangrum said.
According to Belle Meade police, the GPS darts can only be fired once.
The darts are replaced through a subscription service that is part of a grant that pays for the entire program.
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