One of the features of Waze is that it crowdsources its information, such as accidents, traffic jams, and police checkpoints. These are useful features for users, although it seems that the NYPD isn’t particularly a fan of one of them, and yes, you guessed right, they aren’t loving the user-reported DWI checkpoints feature.Basically with users being able to report police checkpoints, it comes in handy for those who drive home after having one too many and want to avoid being stopped by the cops. However the police aren’t a fan of this feature and in a statement made to CBS Local, the NYPD is calling on Waze to take this feature down.
“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.”
Interestingly enough, Waze isn’t alone in this as Google has recently started testing out a new feature for Google Maps where they will alert drivers to speed traps. That being said, we’re not sure if Google plans on removing this particular feature of Waze as the company has yet to officially comment on it.