Morgan was in law enforcement for 37 years, and witnessed his share of injuries and deaths resulting from high-speed pursuits. But one incident in particular spurred him to do something about it. One of his agency's cars was involved in a high-speed chase, and the fleeing vehicle struck and killed a man who was driving to work. The man, who was almost the same age as Morgan's adult son and daughter, left behind a young widow and two small children.
"That troubled me more than any event in my career," Morgan says. It got him thinking about a way to prevent such tragedies. Inspired by the warning systems in place for tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and lightning, he decided to come up with a warning for high-speed chases. Now after years of development, PursuitAlert is being installed at the Oconee County (SC) Sheriff's Office.
Anyone can download the PursuitAlert app for free. And it will work anywhere in the country, or in the world, where agencies have their vehicles equipped with the PursuitAlert device. It delivers a visible alert, an audible alert, and push notification to the user's phone that a pursuit is occurring in the vicinity.
"Our technology will warn the public when they're entering an area of imminent danger and will also tell them when the danger has passed," Morgan says. But it's up to the driver to determine how to use that information. "And then they can decide what's in their best interest. They can pull over or at least keep their head on a swivel and be alert to what's going on."
A hardware unit containing GPS and a cell chip mounts in the patrol car. It works in concert with a simple antenna that lies on the dashboard. "The officer toggles one switch when he engages in a pursuit. Then it's an almost instantaneous notification that goes out to the members of the public that have the app in a 3-mile range."
