Pleasant Prairie police have a new way to end vehicle pursuits, a system called the Grappler that the department started using last month.
Along with Monona, Pleasant Prairie is only the second department in Wisconsin to use the technology. A bar lowers from the front of a squad car carrying a heavy nylon net, which catches and wraps around the rear wheel of a fleeing vehicle and brings it to a stop.
Chief David Selvidge said he would like the system on every squad, describing it as a way to reduce danger for other drivers and bystanders in the path of a fleeing vehicle. He also cautioned that it will not work in every situation.
Over its first month, the department reported three successful deployments and three that were unsuccessful. Selvidge said it is not yet clear how the system will perform in cold weather or poor road conditions, and other Wisconsin departments are waiting to see those results before deciding whether to buy it.
Each net can be used once and costs about $400 to replace, while the full mechanism costs between $8,000 and $10,000 and can be used about 100 times, according to the report. The system was created by Grappler Police Bumper in 2018, and the company says it is now used by more than 165 agencies in 34 states.
