Old Westbury police recently used an air-launched GPS dart to track a vehicle, turning a potential high-speed chase into a controlled operation. Dash-cam video released by the department shows the foam-tipped projectile hitting the suspect’s car, after which officers reduced their speed. Chief Stuart Cameron said the system allows officers to monitor suspects safely while minimizing the risks associated with high-speed pursuits on suburban streets.
According to News 12 Long Island, officers initially tried to stop an unregistered vehicle on Monday when the driver took off. A patrol officer then fired a StarChase Guardian-VX tracker at the car. The device stuck, started feeding live GPS coordinates back to dispatch, and officers followed the digital trail at safer speeds until they moved in and arrested the driver. Police released the dash-cam clip to show how the tool can head off dangerous, high-speed chases.
Old Westbury began rolling out StarChase about three years ago and was described as the first police agency on Long Island to deploy the system, officials told FOX 5 New York when the program launched. Cameron, who took over the department in January after retiring from the Suffolk County force, said he pushed to prioritize the technology as the village saw a small uptick in auto thefts and burglaries. Village officials cover the cost of the units and training before officers are cleared to use them on patrol.
How The GPS Dart Works
The Guardian-VX system fires a foam-tipped projectile that houses a GPS unit and adhesive designed to stick to a moving vehicle, according to vendor materials from Safeware. A heat-activated glue helps the tag stay put, and once attached, the device sends real-time location data to a secure mapping portal. From there, supervisors can guide officers to intercept from a distance instead of engaging in a traditional pursuit, and the dashboard is built so that dispatchers can share live tracking data with other agencies when necessary.
Old Westbury Points To Measurable Gains
Police in Old Westbury say the GPS darts are just one piece of a broader strategy that helped the village log its lowest level of index crime in at least 36 years last year, according to local reporting. The department's 2025 figures show declines across major categories, and Cameron has pointed to a mix of new technology, stronger intelligence sharing, and stepped-up community outreach as factors behind the drop, Long Island Press reported. That push, he has argued, is what led the village to invest in pursuit-management tools like StarChase.
Legal Limits And Community Concerns
Court rulings have drawn a fairly bright line on warrantless GPS surveillance, with legal summaries, including coverage on SCOTUSblog, noting that attaching a tracker to a vehicle and monitoring its movements can amount to a Fourth Amendment "search" in the wake of United States v. Jones. Police agencies typically pair that case law with internal policies that spell out when tag-and-track tools are allowed, often reserving them for suspected felonies or other high-risk cases, as reflected in technology inventories and directives on Scribd used by large departments. The goal is to balance the public-safety upside with privacy safeguards and written oversight.
Residents said the GPS dart tactic feels safer than traditional high-speed pursuits. Chief Cameron told News 12 Long Island that the system helps officers avoid putting other drivers at risk. The department plans to continue using the technology alongside stricter pursuit rules and increased coordination with neighboring agencies.
