Almost two years to the day after his 15-year-old daughter Caroline was killed when a police officer slammed into her friend’s car during a high-speed pursuit, Jason Gill announced the installation of technology in Brusly that might be life-saving for future innocent drivers endangered by police chases.
“It’s a bittersweet moment for me,” Gill said. “It’s what I set out to do.”
Brusly will be the first location in Louisiana to use a citizen alert app to inform residents when police pursuits and other high-speed emergency vehicle activity occur near them on the road.
The Pursuit Alert app alert for a high speed pursuit pops up on a phone carrying the app during a demonstration by the Brusly Police Department on Thursday, December 19, 2024 in Brusly, Louisiana.
For Gill, who along with Caroline’s mother filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2023 against the officer who ran a red light and crashed into the car, advocating for this technology has been a way to honor his daughter and prevent other families from having to experience the tragedy his family has endured.
“It took a long time to come up with what we were gonna do,” he said. “I wanted to do something that could carry her memory on.”
'No such thing as a good pursuit'
Police pursuits accounted for over 2,000 fatal motor vehicle crashes nationally from 2018 to 2022, according to data from the . In the same timeframe, 43 fatal crashes involving police pursuits occurred in Louisiana.
discourages pursuit unless the suspect has committed a violent crime and represents an imminent threat to commit another violent crime.
Pursuit Alert sticker marks the first cruiser of the Brusly Police Department to adopt the system on Thursday, December 19, 2024 in Brusly, Louisiana.
But a striking majority of pursuits originate from traffic and property offenses, the organization summarizes — with only 10% of pursuits stemming from violent crime.
“There’s no such thing as a good pursuit, just like there’s no such thing as a good war,” said Tim Morgan, founder of , the developer of the notification system that will be used in Brusly. “But we’re going to continue to have both. I think the best we can do is manage the risk.”
The technology will be installed in the Brusly Police Department’s nine police car units, allowing officers to send a notification when they are engaged in a pursuit to residents in the area who have the app Digital Siren installed.
Brusly Sargent Jordan Zachary pushes the button on the dash to activate the Pursuit Alert system installed in the cruiser on Thursday, December 19, 2024 in Brusly, Louisiana.
The app will give drivers 30-45 seconds of warning, Morgan said, which benefits both civilians and officers.
“An officer has a sworn duty to apprehend and a sworn duty to protect,” Morgan said. “And that is a very tricky thing to do sometimes. It’s hard to balance those two duties, and I think this technology helps them balance that.”
Plans to expand in Louisiana
Gill hopes to bring Pursuit Alert, which currently operates in six states, to police departments across Louisiana. So far, West Baton Rouge Parish and Iberville Parish have agreed to implement the alert system, he said. He’s also in talks with Livingston and East Feliciana parishes.
The foundation he started, the , donated the equipment to Brusly and will pay for the first year of service. He’s working to help other small towns find funding, he said.
“There’s no reason we shouldn’t do it, right?” Gill said. “Us as citizens, as modern citizens, we should be alerted of what’s going on up and down the highway.”
Community members say a prayer during the candlelight vigil for Maggie Dunn and Caroline Gill on Monday, January 2, 2023 in Brusly, Louisiana.
Dec. 31 will mark two years since Caroline Gill died. In the new year, her dad said, all of Brusly’s police cars will start using the new notification system to alert civilians of high-speed pursuits.