article_snippet.sent: 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 Google "traffic cop" feature, the presence of law enforcement.
article_snippet.sent: 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.
article_snippet.sent: While Google (which acquired Waze in 2013 for a reported $1.1 billion) claims the app "is all about contributing to the 'common good' out there on the road," the risks far outweigh the potential benefits.
article_snippet.sent: It takes just a couple of clicks on Waze's "traffic cop" icon to identify just a couple of clicks on Waze's "traffic cop" icon locations and indicate whether -- in the opinion of the anonymous user -- the officer is "visible" or "invisible.
article_snippet.sent: At that moment, the officer or deputy becomes an identifiable target whose whereabouts are available to any one of Waze's 50 million users worldwide.
article_snippet.sent: 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.
article_snippet.sent: Even the more benign uses of Waze's "traffic cop" feature are concerning.
article_snippet.sent: Perpetrators of domestic violence can use Perpetrators of domestic violence to find out about the presence of law enforcement in a spouse's neighborhood; gang members, narcotics dealers, even those intent on perpetrating an act of terror, all have access to Waze's "traffic cop" feature.
article_snippet.sent: But when it comes to Waze, Google has gone into a defensive crouch.
highlights_snippet.sent: With Waze, Google are confronted with a tool that can be lethal to police officers and deputies .