In the last year there has been an abnormal amount of high speed law enforcement chases in the Raccoon Valley Radio-listening area. 

Iowa State Patrol District 4 Resource Officer Shelby McCreedy says this past year the number of pursuits are up drastically from the normal five year average. She says the traffic patterns during the pandemic had less vehicles on the road and criminals choosing to run from law enforcement at a higher rate of speed. Trooper McCreedy tells Raccoon Valley Radio gone are the days where a criminal could escape apprehension by hiding in a corn field.

“Technology absolutely makes it impossible to outrun us(law enforcement) these days and the advancements in our radios, our GPS, we use drones, we use aircrafts, we use heat sensing equipment on the aircrafts. They all contribute to our ability to find someone with ease.” 

McCreedy says when law enforcement is involved in a high speed chase with a suspect, those situations are also putting additional lives at risk. McCreedy adds, law enforcement go through hours of training to deal with the stress and minimize the collateral damage.