Police chief denounces 'cowardly' iPhone users monitoring speed traps

The Washington Examiner.com ^ | July 7, 2009 | Hayley Peterson

[RoadKingSE]

Area drivers looking to outwit police speed traps and traffic cameras are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that pinpoint the location of the cameras.

That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints.

"I think that's the whole point of this program," she told The Examiner. "It's designed to circumvent law enforcement -- law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives."

[Star Traveler]

You said — Uh, can we get some objective evidence of this assertion?

—

No need of objective evidence for this assertion. It’s false — “inherently” — on the face of it.

It’s only *running the red light* that results in “law enforcement action” — and thus any law enforcement action has already demonstrated that something very unsafe happened.

HOWEVER, if *no law enforcement action* takes place (with a “warning” that a camera is there), then it’s obvious that something “very safe” has happened.

Hence, the statement is *false* right on the face of it... LOL...

[Star Traveler]

Another very *fine use* for the iPhone...

I’m pleased that Apple is contributing to the *safety* of the driving public, along with the inventive programmer of that piece of software... :-)

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Oh honey your just pissed you may lose out on the money from your check points and speed traps.Nothing more.

[marron]

I love cops but sometimes they forget who works for who.

And most government employees forget that one of the main things people want is to be able to go about their business without being bugged by government functionaries.

Protect us from the bad guys, keep the streets paved, and otherwise, leave us alone. We have things to do.

[doc11355]

Trapster Link

[Nervous Tick]

>> Lanier said the technology is a “cowardly tactic”

That statement blows me away. Cowardly? Like “cops ‘n speeders” is a sporting event and citizens are somehow cheating??!?

So Barbie, what would be *courageous*? Running a red light in front of a camera, middle finger in the air? Maybe broadsiding a police cruiser? What?

Dumb b!tch.

[balch3]

in some jurisdictions, that can earn you a ticket as well.

[Teotwawki]

More and more it's looking like it is them against us. They're really not here to serve and protect us. They're here to keep us in line and generate revenue for themselves.

In the true spirit of our tea party forefathers, we need to resist. I've often fantasized about taking out those traffic cameras by decorating their lens screens with some spray paint or a few well placed rounds from a paint ball gun.

[Mad-Margaret]

How do you get WiFi in your car when you’re moving? If Trapster does that, I will gladly download it.

[RoadKingSE]

I've often fantasized about taking out those traffic cameras by decorating their lens screens with some spray paint or a few well placed rounds from a paint ball gun.

This looks like a job for Carl Spackler.

[aruanan]

I've often fantasized about taking out those traffic cameras by decorating their lens screens with some spray paint or a few well placed rounds from a paint ball gun.

No, either of those would be readily detectable. You need to put a fresnel lens over the light source for the flash. To anyone standing there looking at the flash, it would appear to be functioning but the lens would diffuse the light enough that it wouldn't be sufficient to illuminate the license plate at a distance.