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 ...
Another thing is gapers blocks.
If one life can be saved, can't we just talk about banning 5 gallon buckets of water? </sarc>
While I’m supportive of law enforcement, there are plenty of other ways to provide the information that “Waze” does, namely a cell phone or a text message. If someone truely wanted to sneak up and ambush a police officer, they could use other technology to do so.
Yes there is.
As the article states...
"lawbreakers can pinpoint the location of police officers in the field".
What happened to the Google exec that was taking so much credit for helping the muslim brotherhood overthrow the government of Egypt?
Google is filled with liberal dirtbags.
It’s endangering local government from ticket profits.
There are plenty of ways, technologically, in which a criminal could track and ambush a uniformed police officer. Funny enough the only one the cops are complaining about is the technology that helps citizens avoid their revenue generation efforts.
Zactly.
The only real risk is their jobs as usurious revenuers who prey on speeders but, never seem to go after morons who tailgate, make unsafe lane changes or drive with hostility toward other drivers.
I believe, only when they’re stationary.
I dont carry a cell personally....makes for a short leash for an honest guy and I dont care for that & my wife and kids know how to reach me during the day.....cue bat signal in clouds
So?
Is that illegal? By lawbreakers - you know they mean speeders. Which you and I are.
But if Waze alerts me to the fact a police officer is 1 mile ahead - like the old CB radios and radar detectors used to do - then HOW is that a credible threat to the police?
Waze is only a threat to the revenue of the feudal states and city states that like to extract tribute from the driving public.
You are assuming that the liberals at Google are on the same side of the cops vs thugs and criminals.
Well, not sure about this executive, but one of those Google Executive just got buried with snow in Nepal.
Somebody who wanted to use that for an ambush would need to go to the location and hope that the troop had not left, and also that there were no other squad cars at the site. Never put anything totally beyond a nut, yet it would be more dicey for the nut than having a partner who would personally scout the area and provide real time updates. This is perilously close to wanting to ban modern communications.
I didn't say that it was illegal or that it should be illegal. I'm simply disagreeing with your first comment, that "there is no downside".
By lawbreakers - you know they mean speeders. Which you and I are.
What? I don't care what they mean by law breakers. "lawbreakers" are (of course) all people who break the law.
But if Waze alerts me to the fact a police officer is 1 mile ahead - like the old CB radios and radar detectors used to do - then HOW is that a credible threat to the police?
I haven't made any argument about the threat to police officers. And yes Waze is similar to CB's.
I would rather see more cops patrolling the streets for thugs, like in Baltimore and elsewhere where the Dem leaders are letting the inmates run the asylum, and LESS focus on setting up speed traps to increase revenue because they have underfunded Defined Benefit plans and the cities can’t afford the police force becuase they overpromised benefits.
This is a classical viscious cycle - liberalism cuases these problems.
It’s more useful for that (those who do not wish to meet a cop) than for those who DO want to meet one murderously.
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.