Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) personnel initiated a review of the StarChase dart technology by contacting the company to solicit detailed information about the product. Staff then thoroughly searched for any similar competitors offering an alternative technology option that could provide similar functionality. This search did not identify any suitable comparable alternatives to the StarChase vehicle mounted and handheld tagging and tracking products.
On January 30, 2024, Major Daniel Morgalo participated in a teleconference meeting with Starchase, a company comprised of former law enforcement officers, Department of Defense veterans, and engineering and IT professionals. The products offered by the company are cloud-based applications (SaaS) that have been tested and certified as less lethal in an approved testing facility and provide a capability that the Department does not currently possess. That is, to deploy a GPS-enabled tracking device in instances where a vehicle flees from police officers or when a scenario is encountered where a felony vehicle is anticipated to flee. The product can track the fleeing vehicle without engaging in a dangerous pursuit and provides real-time telemetry information, which could be integrated with the functions of the Department's Real-Time Intelligence Center (RTIC).
In theory, by utilizing StarChase products as a de-escalation tool, a felony vehicle could be remotely tracked, and officers could be directed to the general area of the fleeing vehicle to be present and affect an arrest when offenders exit the vehicle and flee on foot. Additionally, StarChase offers a portable version of the product launched from a hand-held device, which could be an additional option for plain-clothes officers from the Department's Strategic Enforcement Team (S.E.T.) to utilize.
Police Department staff, alongside personnel from nine other law enforcement agencies, attended a product demonstration on March 5th, 2024 hosted by the Coconut Creek Police Department. In addition to Miami Beach Police Department employees, staff from the Claremont Police Department, Eustis Police Department, Lake County Sheriff's Office, Melbourne Police Department, Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, Orlando Police Department, Tavares Police Department, Titusville Police Department and West Palm Beach Police Department had the opportunity to obtain a first-hand experience assessing and deploying the StarChase tracking dart technology.
The StarChase system was found to be very easy to utilize and deploy. The evaluation process for this technology identified several useful scenarios where Starchase could be pre-deployed in circumstances where it is highly likely that a vehicle might flee from officers. An example would be a stolen vehicle not involved in a violent crime. A pursuit would not be authorized in those circumstances in accordance with the Miami-Dade Chiefs Model Policy and current MBPD policy guidance. Currently, if a stolen vehicle flees from an officer, the officer is expected to disengage, and a BOLO message is broadcast via radio. Often in such instances, the vehicles involved are recovered in poor condition if at all.
This pre-pursuit deployment capability would provide officers with the ability to disengage and electronically track in situations where a pursuit is not authorized by policy or when an offender operates his or her vehicle in an extremely dangerous manner. The tracking dart allows officers to electronically track a fleeing vehicle without needing to maintain direct visual contact via StarChase’s proprietary web-based tracking application, CoreView mapping. The application would be available to dispatchers and personnel working in the RTIC and automatically opening and tracking upon deployment. The StarChase Coreview system also allows for dispatchers and RTIC personnel to share the active tracking of the fleeing vehicle with neighboring agencies even if they are not StarChase users, which exponentially improves the likelihood of capturing the offender.