In his speech during the High Profile Policing Programme at 99 Wonderland Park in Batu Caves yesterday, Azmi said that sharing information regarding police and road block’s whereabouts on Waze may disrupt enforcement efforts by the police. This is especially against traffic offenders and drunk drivers. Kuala Lumpur police chief, CP Azmi Abu Kassim. [Image: Polis Sentul / Facebook.]He is hoping that the public would cooperate with the police instead of “helping” road offenders through such a move. Truth be told though, what CP Azmi has expressed in his speech has been shared by quite a number of law enforcement outfits throughout the world since years ago. Back in 2015, the US National Sheriffs’ Association reportedly want Google to put an end to the police alert feature on Waze. This was after claiming that the feature may put the safety of police officers at risk since ill-intentioned individuals may be able to pinpoint their locations through the app in a swift manner. On the other hand, the police in Surrey, UK last year used that very feature themselves while acknowledging that it was “an easy way to get drivers to slow down on our roads,”. Some have criticized the move as they felt that the authorities were gaming the app but the police insisted that those were not false markers as officers were indeed on location at that very point in time…technically.
While what CP Azmi has pointed out may have a lot of truth to it, the police alert feature has been an integral part of Waze’s experience. Hence, we doubt that either Google or consumers, in general, want it to be removed from the popular navigational app which now can even be used directly within an infotainment system for some vehicles out there.
