'Stop criminals in motion:' Morris officials demonstrate tire spike strips for pursuits
RANDOLPH — With a police patrol car in pursuit, flashing its lights and blasting its siren at the County College of Morris, the driver of a Ford Explorer saw his attempted escape come to a sudden halt after a strip of sharp spikes flattened his two front tires.
No arrest was made because Lt. Jim Bruno of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office was behind the wheel of the Ford, serving as the designated driver for a demonstration of how police deploy tire spike devices to slow down or stop criminal suspects before they can get away.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll said his office used $57,000 in funds forfeited by criminals to purchase 90 Stinger Spike System Model 90200 Trooper Tire Deflation Devices. He plans to roll them out to 13 of Morris County's 37 police agencies, with hopes to equip them all soon.
"We're introducing something today that has been proven successful in numerous jurisdictions," Carroll said. "In our situation here in Morris County and the state of New Jersey, we've obviously had a great increase in car thefts, home burglaries, home invasions and things of that type. We have a high degree of confidence that these will be very effective."
Story continues after gallery
Carroll was unaware of similar county training programs elsewhere, but that he had the full support of the New Jersey Attorney General's Office and was following all current guidelines for vehicle chases and the use of spike strips.
On Thursday, chiefs and officers from several Morris towns attended the all-day training session. The demonstration - staged in a closed-off parking lot - took place shortly after lunch.
"The technology is obvious," Carroll said. "It's a spike strip. But training is essential. As a result, law enforcement has pulled together our resources and efforts. Working together has proven to be the most effective tool against these organized networks of thieves."
Those efforts include the precise training during the Thursday sessions that police received to safely and effectively "stop criminals in motion," following a strategic county plan that identifies "choke points" and process details for police from multiple towns who may be participating in a chase.
"We feel it's going to make a big difference for us being able to apprehend these people before there's a big crash at 100 mph on a major highway where innocent civilians are impacted," Carroll said.
"It's another tool in the toolbox," Sheriff Jim Gannon said. "We can safely arrest the offenders and stop the action."
How to use a spike strip
The strips, which fold accordion-style into a flat case about twice the size of a laptop computer, stretch to 15 feet when pulled by a cord, making for quick deployment. The spikes come with a thin rubber coating to allow them to be safely carried by hand, but detach and embed in a tire that runs over them.
"Stepping on them would be a bad idea," one trainer advised.
The timing and communication has to be perfect for the strip to be deployed at the right time to engage the suspect vehicle without damaging the pursuit vehicles.
"It's about training, training, training," Gannon said.
"I went to the class this morning, so I'm aware of how they work now," Bruno said in between morning and afternoon sessions of tire spike training with representatives of Federal Signal, who manufacture the strips.
Stinger spikes embedded in Bruno's front tires quickly halted his progress at the end of the low-speed demonstration.
"You just saw how effective they can be," Carroll said.
Fighting auto theft with technology
State, county and local authorities began to increase coordination of their efforts after a record 15,898 vehicles were reported stolen in New Jersey during 2022, a trend blamed in part on people leaving key fobs in their parked luxury vehicles.
The rate began to slow in the second half of 2023 after police increased the use of automated license-plate readers and other technologies to identify and track suspects. New legislation increasing penalties for offenders and relaxed state guidelines regarding police chases - reversing earlier restrictions - also aided police efforts, authorities said.
Overall in 2023, 16,605 thefts were reported, a 4% increase over the past year, according to statistics supplied by the New Jersey State Police.
Auto theft rates actually dropped last year in Morris County, 28%, from 273 in 2022 to 197 in 2023. But Morris County authorities, including Carroll and Gannon, warned the public early this year that related crimes by organized criminal gangs, including home break-ins, home invasions and catalytic converter thefts, were still rising.
In wealthy Mountain Lakes, for example, nine auto thefts were reported last year, one fewer than the prior year. Motor vehicle break-ins fell dramatically, from 28 in 2022 to 11 last year. But residential burglaries, which investigators said were largely related to attempted auto thefts, tripled from three to nine.
Capt. Christopher Petonak, officer-in-charge of the Boonton Police Department, said his officers have successfully deployed tire spike strips in recent years. Trained by federal agencies and using the strips on local routes, they were able to stop and capture about a dozen suspects involved in two police chases that began in neighboring Mountain Lakes and Montville.
After that, Petonak said, the rate of vehicle thefts in town dropped. "I think the word got out that we use them," he said.
William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com
Twitter: @wwesthoven
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Morris County NJ officials show tire spike strips for stolen cars
