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Cops get refresher on stop sticks
By JOE gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police officers receiving refresher training in stop sticks were told to be ready for the unexpected once the sticks are deployed.
All officers are receiving refresher training in using the devices, which can be thrown across a roadway to deflate tires on a vehicle they are pursuing.
Some of that training was taking place Friday at the police station.
Lt. William Ross of the department’s Traffic Bureau, who was running the training, said the sticks are carried by all of the beat cars and all cars in the traffic unit that are on duty and that authorization to use them must come from a field supervisor on the road or the captain in charge of that particular shift.
It also is the supervisor’s responsibility to figure out where to place the spikes, and it is also their responsibility to let officers involved in a chase know where they are.
Inside the device are 36 spikes that are designed almost like valves, so when they puncture a tire, the air is let out gradually. They are light enough to be thrown across a roadway and can be dragged into place and out of the way with a line up to 80 feet long that resembles a fishing line.
Ross said it takes between 20 and 30 seconds for tires to be deflated once they make contact with the sticks. The sticks themselves are covered with spikes, so no matter how it lands, a tire will hit it.
Ross warned officers to take cover behind something solid, such as a building or a large tree, after they put the sticks in the road because they can cause a car to lose control.
He also said that officers who are involved in the pursuit have to be aware of the vehicle they are chasing trying to avoid the sticks at the last minute and to be aware of the vehicle pursued beginning slowing down.
“Be prepared for them to take evasive action,” Ross said.
Ross said the sticks are an uncomplicated and safe way for officers to put a stop to a pursuit.
“Pretty much let them come to you,” Ross said.
One key to using them successfully is to make sure the vehicle being pursued does not have a lot of time to see them, because then it will make it easier for that vehicle to avoid them, Ross said.
The sticks are not to be used against motorcycles, vehicles with three wheels or all-terrain vehicles except for what the department’s policy terms “exceptional circumstances.”
The training is being reinstituted because of the recent wave of new officers the department has added since 2011. Since then, the department has added 17 officers to the patrol division.
The department has been focusing on its polices and procedures regarding chases this month. Last week, it issued a directive that all chases must be documented, and it also cleared up the chain of command when a vehicle pursuit takes place.