PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police plan to use drones in their ongoing fight against illegal street racing meetups, according to officials who testified Tuesday before a City Council committee hearing.
The car meets are not a new problem. A resolution to hold Tuesday’s hearing actually passed in May. But the scheduling proved timely, coming just 10 days after a series of meetups between the night of Sept. 21 and about 4 a.m. the next morning left several police cars damaged and an officer injured.
Deputy Commissioner Fran Healy says one of the biggest challenges to arresting the drivers is public safety.
“Police cannot disregard public safety when trying to intervene or apprehend these operators,” Healy said. “We will not pursue them. Police pursuits result in tragedies.”
📹 Video compiled by District Attorney's Office
He described the department’s approach to car meets as control and containment.
“It does appear to a lot of people outside of police operations that these people are evading capture. These people are finding out the hard way that ‘the long arm of the law’ really does exist.”
And Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore says police use vehicle information, video and social media posts to track down the drivers. A woman from North Jersey and a Pittsburgh man have been arrested in connection with the Sept. 21-22 incidents, and several vehicles have been recovered.
“We’re doing investigations into stolen vehicles that are part of this. They re-VIN them, they put different plates on them, and they get them out there so they can just wreak havoc on the streets.”
Healy said two new tools are about to debut: spike strips and drones.
“The drones will be a big help in identifying where they stop, where they think they’ve eluded us, they pull over, they stop,” Health said. “And there is the way where we can make the enforcement without compromising public safety.”
He says if the drivers are brought to justice, he believes organizers of the meets will move on to other cities.
Police have also discussed new prosecution tools targeting the promoters of car meet-ups, Vanore said.
“This all started somewhere. This was called Project X, so somebody started it. If they’re making money on these Instagram videos and all, we could be in on a RICO,” he said, referring to the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which allows for extended criminal penalties for actions performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
Vanore says police will send on to the District Attorney any evidence they find of a racketeering conspiracy.