APD transfers 9 sets of Stinger Spike Strips to Westport

Tire deflation systems save city of Westport approximately $4,500

By Jerry Knaak The Daily World • January 25, 2025 1:30 am
Jerry Knaak / The Daily World The Aberdeen Police Department also uses Piranha® pursuit prevention devices.
Jerry Knaak / The Daily World The Aberdeen Police Department also uses Piranha® pursuit prevention devices.

The Aberdeen City Council recently voted to approve the Aberdeen Police Department’s transfer of nine sets of surplus Stinger Spike Strips manufactured by Federal Signal, which, according to Federal Signal’s website, allow “law enforcement to stop fleeing vehicles safely.”

“We can’t sell them to anybody, they’re a restricted item; the Westport Police Department doesn’t have the funds to purchase them,” Dale Green, Aberdeen Chief of Police, told the City Council at the Jan. 8 regular meeting. “We’ve done this previously with tasers (and) the city of Cosmopolis.”

The Aberdeen Police Department no longer needed the spike strips after they switched to Stop Stick tire deflation devices and Piranha (also made by Stop Stick) pursuit prevention devices in August 2024. All 34 Aberdeen police officers have been trained in vehicle pursuit techniques, including the PIT (Precision Immobilization Technique) maneuver, and every police vehicle is equipped with a Stop Stick system.

According to Commander Steve Timmons, the Aberdeen Police Department’s public information officer, the Stop Stick system was an upgrade over the spike strips.

“We switched to Stop Sticks, which is a little different, we got a grant through the (Grays Harbor) Community Foundation to help purchase the new Stop Sticks, which are a little more modern, a little safer, easier to handle for our officers,” Timmons said. “The spike strips we’ve had were a little outdated but they still provided value, and they serve a purpose still, we found another agency that needed them.”

Timmons added that the Aberdeen Police Department has a “great relationship with all the agencies here in the Harbor. We try to work together. If we can provide equipment that another agency doesn’t have, I like to make sure they can have that available to them.”

According to Green, Aberdeen police officers were involved in less than 20 vehicle pursuits in 2024 and used the PIT maneuver twice.

“The whole purpose is to end (vehicle pursuit) as quickly and safely as possible,” Timmons said. “An officer can get ahead of the pursuit and lay the Stop Sticks down and deflate the tires, slow the vehicle down, and get it to a stop. It’s better for everyone, for the officers, for the community, for the citizens, other motorists, the whole goal is to end it as quickly as we can and as safely as we can.”