More and more people are relying on traffic reporting app Waze to navigate their way around the city because of its real-time and crowd-sourcing nature. People update it regularly to report on traffic jams, car-congested areas so that drivers (and even commuters) know which roads to avoid. But another feature of the Google-powered app is causing unease among the law enforcement community as some officers believe this can be used to “stalk” their police officers.

Waze users can report on the app the presence of police officers in certain areas. Though there is no explanation why the police are there (hey, they might just be on a coffee break or something), most do it to avoid overspeeding when they reach that point and so they will not get ticketed. However, some sheriffs believe that this can be used by some people to “stalk” these officers and use the information for various nefarious reasons. Law enforcement officials are asking Google to remove this feature from Waze and be the “responsible corporate citizen they have always been” even before any untoward incidents will occur.

“I can think of 100 ways that it could present an officer-safety issue. There’s no control over who uses it,” says Jim Pasco, Executive Director of the Fraternal Order of the Police. He explains that if you’re planning to rob a bank, you just need to check Waze to make sure that there are no officers around. Or if you’re planning to specifically confront the police, you can just look for wherever they are nearest you.

While these concerns may be valid, given the tense relations between citizens and the police in some areas like Ferguson and New York, they may be overreacting to some extent. In fact, a lot of people use this police spotting feature to avoid them, rather than stalking them. There has been no response from Google as of this moment, but let’s wait and see how they will react to it.

VIA: SlashGear

3 COMMENTS

  1. Absolutely absurd. There’s no specific identification of police, there’s frequently no police when you actually reach that point. As far as robbing a bank, seriously! How often is a bank robbed these days and checking Waze to “make sure” there’s no cops around is ludicrous unless they’re running a speed trap in front of a bank!

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