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NYPD calls on map app Waze to remove RBT locations

The police force is arguing the information is dangerous for road users, allowing people to more easily avoid breath tests designed to prevent intoxicated drivers from taking the road.


New York Police Department (NYPD) has written to Waze, one of Google's mapping services, calling for it to remove 'DWI checkpoint' locations from its app.

Unlike regular Google Maps, the Waze app lets drivers report obstacles, traffic, mobile speed cameras and 'DWI checkpoints', known locally as random breath test (RBT) stops or booze buses.

Although this crowdsourced data can help people avoid frustrating traffic delays, the NYPD also says it's undermining their ability to catch drunk, drugged and dangerous drivers.

"We demand that Google LLC, upon receipt of this letter, immediately remove this function from the Waze application," wrote Ann Prunty, acting deputy commissioner of NYPD legal matters.

“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," the letter said.

"Revealing the location of checkpoints puts those drivers, their passengers, and the general public at risk."

Chatter in Australia suggests local police forces are looking to shut down the popular app's speed camera location function, although exactly how they'd do that remains to be seen.

This isn't the first time Waze has come under fire from law enforcement. In 2015, the NYPD sergeants union demanded the police checkpoint location function be deactivated, after a pair of officers were ambushed by a killer using the Waze app to monitor their location.

In 2017, it became illegal to reveal the locations of speed cameras and radars in apps in France.

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