The White Settlement Police Department is employing new technology to make police chases safer and prevent crashes that endanger the public, officials said Thursday in a press release.

The department has contracted with StarChase to tag fleeing suspect vehicles with a GPS tracker that will report the car’s speed, direction and coordinates to the 911 dispatch center, according to the release. Based on that real-time data, officers can be sent to the location without the suspect’s knowledge.

Police Chief Christopher Cook said the new technology isn’t designed to eliminate all vehicle pursuits.

“We are optimistic that StarChase will create opportunities to allow the GPS mapping to position our responding officers in the best possible outcome to safely apprehend suspects and recover felonious vehicles,” Cook said in the release.

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When an officer is faced with a pursuit, they can tag the suspect’s vehicle from a launcher mounted on their patrol car. They can then decide to continue the chase or back off, depending on the suspect’s actions and type of offense the person is fleeing from, according to the release.

“Studies have shown that when offenders are not being actively pursued by emergency police vehicles, they return to normal and prudent speeds within 60 seconds, thereby enhancing safety for the motoring public,” the release said.

In June, a 15-year-old died when the vehicle she was a passenger in crashed during a police pursuit in Fort Worth. Officers were chasing the vehicle because they believed it had possibly been stolen.

A few weeks later, an uninvolved vehicle was hit by a Fort Worth police Tahoe that was pursuing a stolen Dodge Challenger. The Tahoe then hit another vehicle.

The driver of the first uninvolved vehicle died at the scene, and a police officer was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

According to the release, the White Settlement Police Department has been involved in over 70 active vehicle pursuits since 2019. This doesn’t include numerous incidents where officers didn’t chase a fleeing suspect due to police policy or safety concerns.

The GPS tracker also works in situations where the suspect discards a gun or contraband during a police chase, the release said. Officers can then return to the scene and secure the discarded items later.

White Settlement officers were trained with the new technology Wednesday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

According to the release, StarChase reports an 85% apprehension rate in the 10 years of data that were reviewed.