I often see body cam video of Spike Strips being deployed (in the road) to shred the tires of a fleeing suspect.
The police cars are close behind, driving at high speeds, and chasing the suspect’s car.
The police cars seem fine after the chase. Why weren’t their tires shredded?
I’m guessing their tires are made to more hardened specifications?
This link discusses “pursuit-rated” cars. It doesn’t elaborate about tires, but I’m assuming their tires must be different.
Because the police know where the spike strips are going to be deployed and can avoid running over them?
In the videos I’ve seen, this is it. The cops know the locations and back off a bit so they can avoid them.
Not just that, but the cop that laid them out is holding a tether so they can yank them back out of the road.
Pulling a tether would work.
Sometimes the cop laying out the spikes can be seen up ahead of the cars. It’s usually hard to see and the editors will circle him.
I haven’t seen the cops remove the spikes from the road. The cameras focused on the suspect’s disabled car.
A&E is running a lot of shows using police body camera content.
@Joey_P thanks. That’s the best footage I’ve seen.
I see that the cops can get them on and off the road quick.
I remember reading police car tires have a hard insert that doesn’t go flat. A nail or bullet wouldn’t flatten the tire.
But I think they could shred if badly damaged.
You can buy run-flat tires for most passenger cars. They’re pricy but work great. I’ve had them, and suffered road hazard blowouts and tread separations while driving them.
As you said, they’re not a panacea against massive tread or especially sidewall damage. But they turn a deflation into a near non-event. At least in the near term. Trying to do escape- or pursuit-level driving on a flat run-flat tire won’t last too many miles. But it will prevent the immediate blowout → loss of control, tire shredding and driving on the wheel, etc.
A cop on foot slings the spike strips out across the road after the last previous car has gone by and just before the perp car gets there. Thereby surprising the perp who lacks time and distance to avoid the strips. Then as the perp passes, the cop immediately yanks the strips back out of the road, ideally before the first pursuit car gets there. So simple. But not something easily seen on typical car chase vids shot from helos.
My '03 Mini Cooper had run-flats. Not enough room for even a donut spare. The function never got utilized.
If you watch OP Live (previously Live PD), you’ll see them used pretty often, but not just that, you’ll get the vantage point of being out with the cop deploying/retracting them.
I watch tons of those videos and can also attest that the cop flings them out and quickly yanks them back before the good guys get there.
And the good guys are on the radio and know where the spikes are being deployed, so they will be watching.
More often than not, it seems, the bad guy simply drives on the shoulder or on the opposing lane and avoids the spikes. That prompts me to go in Monday Morning Quarterback mode, with no knowledge whatsoever of the actual skills involved, and I wonder why they don’t deploy spikes at a choke point like the end of a narrow overpass–by doing that, the bad guy would have nothing but cement walls to either side.
I’m not sure how common bridges like that are out west, but in NJ we have little streams everywhere, so you can’t drive more than a mile or so without going over some small creek or stream–perfect for laying a spike trap!
The main reasons are already mentioned 1: They are yanked out by the deploying officer 2: the cops know it’s coming and can avoid it. But another factor may be that the spikes are designed to break off, The spikes themselves are hollow, and designed to hold open the hole. So when the baddie goes over it, it removes a path of spikes from that strip. So if 1 and 2 don’t work it may be possible to thread the needle and get though safely.
I’m gonna suggest the cop deploying the spikes has to stand somewhere. And ideally behind a parked car so a) they have some physical protection from the perp just running them over, and b) concealment so the perp doesn’t realize they’re approaching a spiking ambush until suddenly the cop stands up and throws the spikes across the road.
That’s precisely why I would do it at a small bridge. The cop is usually standing in harm’s way or besides his parked cruiser (announcing to the world “Free Spike Strips Here!!!”).
Why not hunker down behind the far bridge abutment and do the spiking from there?
Surely there is a great flaw in my thinking because I rarely see spikes deployed in such a place.
Because it requires the sort of chase in which you have a reasonable idea where the perp is going to go, and enough time to deploy an officer with a spike strip to that particular location. The more warning you have, the more likely the suspect is going to turn down some other street and head off in a new direction. It’s pretty rare that a car chase escalates to the “pursued by helicopter” stage in the first place, and granted by then a lot of cops have been mobilized, but getting ahead of the perp is no easy feat.
And it’s super easy for a bozo like me to say “Why don’t you just…” while the reality is the cop is in freezing rain, rushing around his car, trying to get the spikes out of the bag, slipping on the wet grass, swearing at the other cars that all suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and trying to get the split second timing of the toss right.
Running over spike strips is no big deal. Just call AAA to come out and fix your tires.
As others have said, they are deployed at the last minute so as to not cause damage to other, unrelated cars that happen to be on the same road. They also have a rope tied to the end so that the deploying officer can retract them as soon as the car their trying to stop passes. Besides the trailing cop cars knowing they’re there they may already be at least ½ a lane away, if not further by the time the first cop car passes the deploying officer.
The deploying officer needs to be far enough ahead of the suspect’s car that he can slow/stop, put it in park, exit the vehicle, remove the spike strips from the trunk, run to the front of his vehicle (protection from becoming a pancake), get in position & then deploy them at the right time; all with a car that may be doing 100mph or more. IOW, you probably need to be at least a minute ahead of the perp & be one of the cops that have them in your car as not every cop car has a set. There’s a much greater chance the perp will change what road their driving down on surface streets vs an expressway making your intended setup location useless.
Ideally the deploying officer will be somewhat protected to prevent being hit by the fleeing/swerving car. Whether that’s in front of his cruiser or behind a Jersey barrier or guard rail or something else that lessens his chances of becoming a hood ornament.