Supervisors continue StarChase policy after questions about warrants and reliability

The Board of Supervisors voted to continue consideration of an ordinance that would adopt a police surveillance technology policy governing electronic location tracking devices, including StarChase, to a March 24 meeting after supervisors raised civil‑liberties and technical questions.

Chair Walton moved the continuance, citing concerns about warrantless tracking, data reliability, cost and civil‑liberties protections. Supervisor Chan said he wanted more time to review whether the technology and proposed policy sufficiently protect Fourth Amendment rights and requested technical briefings. "I have some questions about the technology itself... I would like to have some more time to better understand the technology," Chan said.

Carl Maseta, government affairs manager for the Police Department, described StarChase as "a pursuit mitigation tool" and a "GPS projectile launcher" that affixes to a fleeing vehicle so officers can track it instead of engaging in a high‑speed pursuit. Maseta told the board that under the department's policy, tracking without a warrant would be limited to exigent circumstances such as hot pursuit and that in other scenarios the department would request a warrant. He said the SFPD pilot (deployed in December 2024) produced 22 deployments in 2025 and 17 successful tags, with some resulting in vehicle recoveries or suspect apprehensions.

After discussion, the board approved Walton’s motion to continue the ordinance to March 24; the clerk recorded the motion approved without objection. Supervisors said the extra time should allow the SFPD and other presenters to answer questions publicly.