CHAVES COUNTY, N.M. – In the past few years, new tools like the grappler have emerged to make police pursuits safer. Now, one southeastern New Mexico sheriff’s office is trying it out.

“We recently obtained the grappler, which is another method in stopping vehicle pursuits,” said Chaves County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Charles Yslas. 

Yslas says the grappler is going to help his deputies stop pursuits safely. While they aren’t chasing after cars every day, Yslas says it still happens often enough for them to need the tool. 

But what exactly does the grappler do?

“The way it works is you still have to come up and almost make contact with the back of the vehicle, but in doing so, the grappler goes in, it grabs the tire and at that time, essentially it just wraps up around the tire. It’s web material and locks up that back tire,” said Yslas. 

Yslas says in the past they would do a PIT maneuver, which is when a deputy uses their vehicle to move the suspect’s car over and try to get them to spin to a stop.

But he says this new tool is supposed to be safer not just for the deputy but the suspect.

“This is a way to stop that person, and it’d be safe if there is a kidnap victim in the vehicle, if there is children in the vehicle. And it’s a way to stop it as quickly as possible so that there’s not a risk to the public, so it doesn’t go on and on,” said Yslas. 

Yslas says the funding for the grappler came from Chaves County commissioners. State Police have 10 of them to distribute across the state, but the goal is to have one for each deputy.

“It’s one of those tools where we’re excited to use it, but we hope we don’t have to,” said Yslas.