Crowdsourcing Traffic App A Threat to Cops, Police Chief Says

Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck says the real- time traffic app Waze jeopardizes the lives of police officers.

In a Dec. 30 letter to Google, which acquired Waze in 2013, Beck wrote that by indicating the locations of police, the app compromises the safety and security of officers, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Beck noted that in the days before slaying New York Police Department Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu on Dec. 20, Ismaiiyl Brinsley used the application to monitor police movements.

“I am confident your company did not intend the Waze app to be a means to allow those who wish to commit crimes to use the unwitting Waze community as their lookouts for the location of police officers,” Beck wrote.

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Google/Waze rejected the notion that the app could be a tool for tracking police. “We think very deeply about safety and security and work in partnership with the NYPD and other police and departments of transportation all over the world … to help municipalities better understand what’s happening in their cities in real time. These relationships keep citizens safe, promote faster emergency response and help alleviate traffic congestion,” The Los Angeles Times, quoted Waze spokeswoman Julie Mossler saying. “Police partners support Waze and its features, including reports of police presence, because most users tend to drive more carefully when they believe law enforcement is nearby.”

Waze has about 2 million users in Greater Los Angeles, and more than 50 million users worldwide, according to The Times.

Police concerns about the app surfaced at a National Sheriff’s Association meeting in Washington. Sheriff Mike Brown of Bedford County, Virginia, reportedly called on Google to “act like the responsible corporate citizen they have always been and remove this feature from the application even before any litigation or statutory action.”

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS: Does the benefit of the police locator feature outweigh any potential danger?

• City News Service
• Photo Credit: Waze screengrab