VIDEO: Grappler Police Bumper to end high-speed pursuits

An American inventor claims he has invented a new mobile grappling device that could drastically reduce the risks of safely slowing a fleeing suspect.

Called the Grappler Police Bumper (GPB), the new invention consists of front-mounted V-shaped grappling device that is lowered by a pursuing police vehicle.

When in range, the GPB fires heavy-duty nylon straps to snag one of the suspect vehicle's rear wheels.

Moments later the rear wheel is locked, slowing or stopping the fleeing criminal in a matter of seconds.

The advantage of the new device is that it avoids the police having to set dangerous roadside traps using 'stingers' or tyre spikes that puts both the officers deploying the trap and the general public at risk.

The inventor also claims police forces would also no longer need to use potentially lethal 'pit manoeuvres' that some US states allow.

Created by Leonard Stock from Peoria, Arizona, the idea of the new device came to Stock in the middle of the night after an evening spent watching high-speed police chases on TV.

"The conclusion of one of the chases was an innocent motorist getting t-boned and I went to sleep that night just so aggravated that this was happening. And I woke up at 3:00 in the morning just suddenly and this was the first thought I had," Stock told Fox News.

The Grappler Police Bumper has already been tested thoroughly using a variety of different vehicles and has been modified to either hold a vehicle to rapidly enforce a controlled stop or to detach to allow the police a safe distance between the pursuing cops and the potentially armed suspects.

In the US it's estimated that around 40 per cent of all police pursuits end in crashes.