Police chase app alert drivers nearby high speed pursuits

DevObal Admin • Apr 23, 2019
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More than 5,000 bystanders and passengers have been killed and tens of thousands have been injured in police car chases over the past 35 years, research says.
Now a former sheriff has created PursuitAlert, which aims to help the public avoid police chases by alerting drivers within a three-mile radius.The moment an officer begins to chase down a subject, they turn on a device in their cruiser and it will send an alert to the app. Tim Morgan, former Pickens County Assistant Sheriff in South Carolina, and Trish Morgan worked on the technology with Pickens Innovation following the death of a man killed during an incident, reports WYFF4.

Brent Winchester was traveling to work in 2008 when a car being chased by police lost control and spun into oncoming traffic – Winchester was killed in the accident.
‘I was in law enforcement for 37 years and one of the most difficult incidents I had to deal with was the death of an innocent victim in a high-speed police pursuit,’ Morgan told 

ABC News WLOS.
After retiring from the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, Morgan started designing PursuitAlert. Police officers simply flip the switch on the device and a push alter will be sent out to PursuitAlert app owners in the vicinity of the chase. Another notification will be sent out the chase is no longer a threat such as ‘proceed with caution’. ‘We’re sending a notification out to all the sheriff’s in the nation that new technology is on the market,’ said Morgan. 

The PursuitAlert technology will cost around $350 for each police car, but Morgan hopes the free app will be out in the next few months –as it is currently pending federal approval.

He also hopes one day the technology will be automatically installed in smartphones, similar to amber alert and weather alerts..Bystanders and passengers in chased cars account for nearly half of all those killed in police pursuits from 1979 to 2013, reports USA Today. ‘A pursuit is probably the most unique and dangerous job law enforcement can do,’ said Tulsa Police Maj. Travis Yates, who runs a national pursuit-training academy.



The Justice Department referred to pursuits as ‘the most dangerous of all ordinary police activities in 1990 and emphasized the agencies needed to form different procedures when it came to chasing suspects.

22 Nov, 2023
A task for will hear arguments for trying BY REBECCA HOLLAND If the man whose truck was caught in the path of a Baton Rouge Police Department pursuit in March would have known the chase was nearby, would he have been killed? If Maggie Dunn and Caroline Gill, the two teenagers killed when an Addis police officer ran a red light during a pursuit last New Year’s Eve, had been alerted, would they be alive today? No one can answer these questions, but Pursuit Alert founder Tim Morgan doesn’t want other families to have to think about similar kinds of "what ifs." He created a warning system that allows law enforcement to send real-time alerts to residents through an app. Notifications that a pursuit is within a few miles could prompt people to stop driving or be on the lookout for speeding vehicles. ...
11 May, 2023
LOS ANGELES - Would you use an app that warned you about a pursuit coming your way? Digital Siren developed an app that will alert drivers of any pursuits in their area… it works similar to an Amber Alert. "A high speech chase is the single event where and officer endangers the public the most, just simply trying to do their job," said retired law enforcement officer Tim Morgan with Digital Siren . Morgan started working on the idea after being part of a high-speed pursuit chase that killed an innocent bystander.
By Tim Morgan 01 May, 2023
BATON ROUGE - Police chases have killed five people in the capital area this year, including two members of law enforcement. As the Louisiana legislature continues to debate the best ways to handle these chases, states like Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina have some counties using the Digital Siren app. The app is free, and law enforcement would be able to send notifications to drivers' phones, warning them a chase is going on in their area. "We want them to be looking out for that fleeing vehicle, whatever the situation might be," said Tim Morgan, a former high ranking sheriff's deputy in South Carolina and the creator of Digital Siren.
13 Jul, 2022
MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. ( WKRG ) — There is an app that can alert those who may be in the area of a police chase, potentially saving lives. It’s called Digital Siren, and Mobile County has the biggest deployment of the system in the entire country. With the push of a button, law enforcement can notify anyone near a chase to get to safety. That button is installed in patrol vehicles and sends an alert to anyone with the free Digital Siren app. The app will also tell you when you’re out of range of the chase. “It’s kind of a no-brainer that we can alert the public of a high-speed pursuit that unfortunately kills so many people, innocent people,” said Charlie McNichol, the director of the Mobile County Communications District.
08 Jul, 2022
ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – A young man from St. Louis was killed in a crash caught in the middle of a police pursuit that happened in St. Charles County along Highway 94. Krystofer Batsell was 21 years old when he died in 2018. His parents were preparing for a birthday party for their other son when they received the news. “There should be some divine law that you can’t lose a child on another child’s birthday,” said Connie Batsell, Krystofer’s mother.
20 Jun, 2022
BRIGHTON, Colo. ( KDVR ) – Tim Morgan set up an email alert system for his inbox so he could keep track of news about deadly police pursuits around the country. That’s how he discovered two innocent people were killed in Brighton, Colorado, after a suspect, who was running from a rookie police officer in 2021, slammed into them. “I get multiple emails a day with multiple stories in each email,” he said, “and I have over 5,000 that I haven’t read yet.”
By STEPHEN MOODY 13 Jul, 2021
MOBILE, Ala..(WALA)--A new app we first told you about two weeks ago, is meant to help innocent drivers avoid crashes during police chases. Now police are hoping to get the word out. The free app called “Digital Siren” has only been in our area for a few weeks, but it’s already been used. Most notably during a chase last week in Saraland where two men refused to stop on Interstate 65 and hit an innocent driver. They were busted with 17 kilos of meth.
By Andrea Ramey 09 Jul, 2021
MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — It's called Digital Siren, and it lets you know if you're within two miles of a police chase. Patrol cars throughout Mobile County are now equipped with the technology.
By Andrea Ramey 02 Jul, 2021
MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — It's called Digital Siren, and it lets you know if you're within two miles of a police chase. Patrol cars throughout Mobile County are now equipped with the technology. When the chase starts, the officer hits a button. Within seconds, your phone gets an alert. "This is the best thing that I've seen in all the years I've been monitoring car chases, to where we can at least do everything we know that we can do to try to protect the public and innocent people," said Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran. It's meant to stop tragedies like the one last year in Thomasville. Megan Brunson, her 5--year-old daughter Ava, and her mother Wanda were hit head-on and killed by a suspect fleeing an officer in a chase. Mobile Chief of Staff James Barber credited NBC 15's Andrea Ramey as the catalyst for bringing this life-saving technology to the area.
By LENISE LIGON 02 Jul, 2021
Bay Minette Police want you to download another app to your smartphone right now. It's called Digital Siren by Pursuit Alert technologies. On its Facebook page , the department writes its teaming up with the company to help people stay alert during emergencies. Basically, Digital Siren is a warning system...much like the alerts we already get to our cellphones for severe weather and missing children. However, with this app law enforcement can send real-time messages to drivers when they're near an emergency response. Several Alabama law enforcement agencies are using Digital Siren, after recent high speed police chases have ended tragically.
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