Posted on 04/27/2015 9:47:31 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Editor's Note: David A. Clarke Jr. is sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Jonathan Thompson is CEO of the National Sheriffs' Association. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.
(CNN)—For the fifth year in a row in 2014, ambush attacks on police officers were the No. 1 cause of felonious deaths of law enforcement officers in the line of duty. Nevertheless, Google continues to market a smartphone application that lets lawbreakers pinpoint the location of police officers in the field. Google's executives won't even discuss the subject with organizations representing law enforcement.
Google's popular real-time traffic app, Waze, uses GPS navigation and crowdsourcing to alert users to traffic jams, automobile accidents, stalled cars, and through its "traffic cop" feature, the presence of law enforcement.
Most people undoubtedly use Waze's police-finding feature to avoid traffic tickets, but the app poses an enormous risk to deputies and police officers.
~snip~
In the case of Waze, we are confronted with a tool that can be lethal to police officers and deputies, whose roles in society are to protect our citizens and enforce the laws that keep our communities safe.
~snip~
The refusal of Google's executives to even dignify our concerns by meeting with us offends our conscience.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I tried the app for a week - it had some neat features....mostly at the expense of your privacy - I ditched it
Conscience? Gotcha. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
We can use it to locate the workplaces and dwellings of THOSE WHO WILL GIVE THE ORDERS when the real oppression begins and we are forced to respond. They should be first on the list, having “accidents” or just disappearing.
“...but the app poses an enormous risk to deputies and police officers. “
How freaking dishonest is that argument and specious to being with?
Solution? Make officers dress in plain clothes and drive unmarked cars from now on.
Maybe I’ll stop when I see their lights, maybe I won’t.
Maybe I’ll assume it’s a bandit and I will flee their intentions.
There isn’t a target on the back of cops and no one wants to see them hurt or killed but, bad people do exist in society and unless you are willing to have officers behave as secret police then there is some risk to being a law enforcement officer.
But, I am given some pause to consider that “correctional facilities” across the land employ men and women who wear a uniform but, are largely unarmed and severely outnumbered.
What of them? Waze isn’t going to help or hurt them in anyway.
It seems this same software could be used to track Google executives - to their homes, to their work, to their fundraisers, on their vacations, wherever they were.
No. The down side to this app is certainly worth mentioning.
If I were looking for a cop to ambush, I could give you 5 better ways than using the Waze app.
The cop locations are completely unreliable.
I’m curious, what privacy? If your phone is on, all of that is already gathered.
Ahh yes. But when that day comes - when “the real oppression begins” - you can be sure that the Obama Regime will have shut down Waze and any and all other sites or social media that would alert us to the presence of the brownshirts.
All of that is already tracked, as is yours.
COPS: Stop looking at me - Ping
Ditto. They know where you are with GPS accuracy 24x 7 and it’s all stored forever in Google servers. That is scary. I’ll bet LEO would not complain about accessing that data to solve crimes.
What about scanners??
These cops hate Waze just as they hated CB radios and later radar detectors.
Bookmark
Downside?
How about a link to any report that even somewhat suggests Waze might have even had something to do with a cop being targeted for violence?
There is no downside here. Just cops who want to write tickets without drivers being forewarned about their hiding.
In fact if a PD wanted to befuddle Waze at a certain place and time they would just jam it with bogus officer reports... it’s not that hard. Methinks the lady doth protest too much?
Downside? Police are in public view. This about loss of $$$ not “officer safety”.
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