Posted on 07/07/2009 10:00:19 AM PDT by RatherBiased.com
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."
The new technology streams to i-Phones and global positioning system devices, sounding off an alarm as drivers approach speed or red-light cameras.
Lanier said the technology is a "cowardly tactic" and "people who overly rely on those and break the law anyway are going to get caught" in one way or another.
The greater D.C. area has 290 red-light and speed cameras -- comprising nearly 10 percent of all traffic cameras in the U.S., according to estimates by a camera-tracking database called the POI Factory.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Breaking the law, breaking the law.....breaking the law, breaking the law....
“It’s designed to circumvent law enforcement — law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives.”
So, does this guy actually believe his own propaganda - that speed traps and red light cameras primary purpose is to save lives (rather than the apparent primary purpose of generating revenue) - or is he just spouting the party line, upset that people are circumventing their revenue-enhancement efforts?
I guess, according to this Police Chief, I’m “cowardly” because I stay at the speed limit- what’s next, she’ll call me a “thief” for not adding to the speeding fine collection revenue? But, I’ll bet she’d get angry if I bring up the phrase “ticket quotas”- hypocrite.
Thank you! We have a gps unit.
Then you have no cause to whine, do you?
CBs, cell phones, iPods, whatever. It’s all the same all fuss, the police are irked cuz someone is trying to avoid their traps.
Who the he!! put a woman in charge of police for the Nation's Capital?
It's a woman. A stupid one.
Well, it’s a politically correct appointment......aren’t you impressed by the 4 stars on each manly shoulder?
There was an old ruling by a very wise judge regarding the original radar detector and I am paraphrasing “ when the government uses surreptious means to monitor citizens, those same citizens are justified in using that same technology to protect themselves”.
There's no alarm; and no one comes to stop you from speeding. What happens is you get a hefty ticket in the mail a few days later and have to pay it.
...law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives
I guess that’s why the Auto Insurance business gives radar equipment to the police free of charge......to save lives
At one of which I spent an hour and a half waiting to get home late one Saturday night. I was stone cold sober, had nothing to drink that night, driving in a minivan with two sleeping children and my wife. When I got to the actual officer, he waved me through. I could have jumped out and strangled every one of them with my bare hands at that point.
F&&K those precious "sobriety checkpoints".
>>F&&K those precious “sobriety checkpoints”.
Amen. Say it again!
Police State Crap.
Serve and Protect I think not.
Fine and collect is what they do.
exactly!
If getting people to slow down was the purpose, then they would be embracing the technology, because it is making people drive slower exactly where they want them too.
The "alarm" is your GPS or iPhone alerting you to a reported camera or speedtrap location. That's what this police chief is whining about - civilian "electronic countermeasures".
I remember when Geico first stirred up a controversy by donating radar guns to law enforcement agencies - that's the reason I'd never give them any business. Have any other insurance companies admitted to doing the same?
It's already been done, more or less. Some detectors sold by Passport and Cobra already have the GPS-based warning capability built in, with updates available by connecting to your computer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.