What is Waze?

WAZE is a crowdsourced navigation app that taps into thousands of cars traveling on nearby roads to determine the fastest route from point A to B.

How Waze Works

WAZE app users, known as Wazers, can easily share with other people on the road when encountering heavy traffic, an obstacle on the roadway and where a police officer is awaiting the opportunity to issue a ticket to a speeding driver.  Google bought Waze mainly because it is the best current technology to help you avoid a traffic jam.  Waze has currently 50 Million users worldwide.

Police officers are now speaking out calling Waze a threat

LAPD Chief Becks wrote letter to Google/Waze on Dec 30 saying he contends the app jeopardizes the lives of police officers.  Law enforcement groups say they want Google to disable the police speed trap alert function.  Their argument is that the technology makes it too easy for cop killers to locate police cruisers. Police say it amounts to potentially harmful stalking technology for uniformed officers.

Waze team says it is concerned about police safety

It shares information on Waze with police departments and that this Waze app is based on crowdsourced only showing where police are already clearly within sight of drivers who spot the cops on the side of the road.  Legally, it is unlikely that a law could prevent or limit your ability to share information that is already public.  Waze points out that it does not offer any authoritative map of law enforcement activity.

Do you think police officers should be able to hide themselves from the Waze app? Comment below.