How Police Deployed Remote-Control Explosive Spike Strips To Stop A Pursuit

Police officers have to make split-second decisions that could mean life or death every day. Now, a new tool called the Night Hawk is helping them end pursuits. Instead of needing an officer on the side of the road to deploy a spike strip, this system literally uses explosives to remotely fire the spike strips out onto the road.

Developed by Matador Law Enforcement Technologies out of Arizona, the device looks a lot like a piece of carry-on luggage. Inside of its Pelican case exterior though it hides several components that make the explosive spike strip work.

Just a few days ago, the City of Calera Police Department deployed one successfully during the pursuit of an allegedly stolen vehicle. They even caught the chase-ending tactic on video as it popped the tires of a Honda Civic.

The video above shows how the system worked so well in the field. The fleeing suspect only had so much road to drive on and the remotely activated spike strip covered almost all of it. Interestingly, the pack moves just a little bit before the suspect reaches it. There’s a good reason for that and we’ll come back to it.

According to the City of Calera PD, it has this system via a grant it received after one of its own ended up in the hospital while trying to deploy spikes manually. “We acquired these devices through a grant after one of our officers was injured deploying traditional spike strips by hand,” it said in the post above.

It goes on to mention how several officers have died while placing manual spike strips, so it sees value in the way that the Night Hawk does what it does. Evidently, using it here led to an arrest and the recovery of the Honda (albeit with ruined tires).

How It Works

The Night Hawk has four main components beyond the case itself. They include a remote control, a power switch within the case, a gas generator-charge (like you’d find in an airbag), and a launch tube.

Officers get training (which we’ll show you below) to place the box on the side of the road, move to a safe space with a clear view of the box, and then deploy it at an appropriate time.

To accomplish that they have to position the box, open it, remove the remote control, and flip a switch inside of the box to turn on the power to the gas generator-charge. Then they retreat to their safe viewing area and wait for the suspect.

According to Matador, the system takes about two seconds to fully deploy after the officer fires it. Thus, it includes a handy chart spelling out when to hit the fire button based on how fast the suspect vehicle is going.

There are some cautions regarding the system including one that it appears the Calera PD ignored in the clip above. Here’s the caution in the manual.

Unexpected sudden deflation of tires can result in loss of vehicle control and serious accidents. Do not use the NightHawk device in situations where bystanders could be injured as a result of suspect vehicles losing control.

Call me crazy but it does appear as though two bystanders in vehicles are directly ahead of the Honda when the officer fires the Night Hawk. Critique aside, there’s something else going on in the clip that proves very interesting. Remember how the box appears to move before the Civic gets to it?

That might have to do with its placement directly on the roadway. Notice where the device gets set down in this training clip that appears to be from the 1990s.

It would appear in that clip that the officer actually fired the spike sticks, then used the retract function to pull the spike strip back toward the box a bit. Since the box was sitting on the low-friction roadway and not in a grassy embankment both the box and the strip moved.

Of course, it all worked out in the end but it’s cool to think that having the ability to remotely retrieve the strip could also serve as a way to reposition it, albeit only in one direction in a situation like the one above. More than anything it’s cool to see explosives helping to keep people safer.