Ever need to know about traffic accidents or road changes in your community? The Waze app can help do that. Waze is the "world's largest community-based traffic and navigation app." However, police officers are not happy about a particular feature.
The Associated Press reported that some police officers believe that Waze's police officer marking feature could be dangerous for them. Users can mark the location of a policeman on the public map. However, the indicator makes it impossible to tell additional details about the officer, such as if they're hidden or visible, or if they're acting as a speed trap, sobriety check or on a snack break.
These officers have requested that Google (the owner of Waze) remove the "police stalker feature," according to Digital Trends. Sheriff Mike Brown, who is the spokesman for this group, said that this kind of information could empower criminals to evade cops and avoid getting caught.
"The police community needs to coordinate an effort to have the owner, Google, act like the responsible corporate citizen they have always been and remove this feature from the application even before any litigation or statutory action," Brown told AP.
When the AP's reporter asked Google for comment, they forwarded the reporter to a Waze spokesperson, who says that the feature is designed to keep users safe and prevent accidents, decrease emergency response times and ease traffic congestion.
This isn't the first time someone has asked for a ban on an officer-tracking app. Senators asked Apple in 2011 to ban all apps that would inform users of a drunken driving checkpoint. Now Apple's app-publishing policy no longer allows for apps of that kind.
If Google does choose to ban this function, it's also likely it will update Android's policy as well.
