DWI checkpoints can sometimes be annoying but they can certainly save lives. Not only the lives of innocent people but the lives of those who may be driving while intoxicated. The NYPD, along with hundreds of other departments, use DWI checkpoints often. But now they have a problem to contend with: the Waze app.
The Waze app is a navigation app that users can contribute to. Users can report accidents, report traffic jams, and even report police presence. The app can then offer the user a new route to take which will avoid those potential issues. That’s all well and good but apparently, the app can also find and report DWI police checkpoints.
This isn’t sitting well with the NYPD. The department has sent a cease and desist letter to Google, who owns Waze, demanding that it remove alerts for DWI checkpoints.
“This letter serves to put you on notice that the NYPD has become aware that the Waze Mobile application, a community-driven GPS navigation application owned by Google LLC, currently permits the public to report DWI checkpoints throughout New York City and map these locations on the application.
“Individuals who post the locations of DWI checkpoints may be engaging in criminal conduct since such actions could be intentional attempts to prevent and/or impair the administration of the DWI laws and other relevant criminal and traffic laws. The posting of such information for public consumption is irresponsible since it only serves to aid impaired and intoxicated drivers to evade checkpoints and encourage reckless driving. Revealing the location of checkpoints puts those drivers, their passengers, and the general public at risk.”
NYPD letter to Google
We have reached out to Google for comment and we will update this story should we get a response.
What do you think about DWI checkpoints showing up in Waze? Should Google remove these? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, or Facebook. You can also comment on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.
[button link=”https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/02/06/nypd-letter-google-dwi-checkpoints-waze-app/” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: CBS New York[/button]Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
