[Scan-DC] The Waze app

[Alan Henney]

The Press-Tribune (Roseville, California)

January 15, 2016

Police urge caution as Waze app comes to prominence; 
Placer officers not concerned about being spied on by tech, do fear distracted driving

BYLINE: Jorden P. Hales, OF THE PLACER HERALD AND THE PRESS TRIBUNE

SECTION: LOCAL NEWS

LENGTH: 776 words

More than 50 million smart phone owners regularly use Waze, the GPS navigation app that enables motorists to report traffic jams, roadway conditions and law enforcement patrols as they encounter them, providing the fastest travel routes in real time.

While some police departments in the U.S. have taken issue with the app's ability to "track" their officers' movements, most commanders wearing the badge in Placer County welcome the innovation, hoping it will assist them in managing roadways.

"There's enough scanners out there already, and people texting, 'Hey, the cops are in front of my house' or something like that," Auburn Police Chief John Ruffcorn said. "Another app that lets people know does not concern me at all ... If we're out there in marked clothing and marked uniforms, I have to alert people anyway." 

Ruffcorn believes that, in some cases, the Waze app might be as helpful to working traffic enforcement officers as it to regular users.

"Generally, we try and get traffic collisions out of the road as quickly as possible, but sometimes there are larger investigations, where the investigation is a little more complex," Ruffcorn explained. "If it helps us divert traffic, where I don't have two officers standing out there diverting traffic because of the amount of activity, that would be a help for us."

In December 2014, a New York City-based group of reporters known as NYCAlerts asserted that Ismaaiyl Brinsley allegedly used the Waze app to track police just days before murdering two NYPD officers. A 2015 statement from Waze - which was issued in response to Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck's claim the app compromised officer safety - said the Waze technology is not meant to "track" officers, but warn motorists to drive carefully and to not speed.

"If it's a 'police visible notification, I kind of just make sure I'm obeying the law," said Roseville's Waze user Jasmine Avery, laughing. "I make sure I'm not speeding ... I don't avoid the route."

Avery began using the app roughly one year after Google reportedly paid more that $1 billion to acquire it. According to digital research company comeScore, more than 65 million people used Google maps in 2014, putting the company's mobile GPS users over 111 million total.

Waze prompts its users behind the wheel to pass phones to passengers in order to avoid distractions.

"If you say, 'Yes, I'm a passenger," (the app) will let you do it," Avery noted. "If it recognizes you're driving, you do have to bypass that."

In addition to alerts, Waze users can also take photos and videos to demonstrate their perspective, including flagging potholes, debris and other obstructions that might call for an alternate route.

But all that sharing of information with other motorists may cause serious distractions itself.

"I think it increases the likelihood that something bad could happen if a driver is using the Waze app, or any other app for that matter, to input data or take pictures," said Rocklin detective Scott Horrillo, who also supervises the city's traffic unit. "I think (smart phones) have changed the way people drive ... Everyone has a phone in their pocket, or in their purse, backpack, wherever it is, and many times their trying to hide it so they don't get a ticket."

While Horrillo was unable to provide statistics on distracted driving in Rocklin, the Roseville Police Department confirmed that its own officers issued more than 215 citations to drivers talking on handheld devices in 2015, as well as an additional 23 specific to texting while driving. The data is not a gauge of direct moving violations caused by mobile apps or GPS navigation functions.

Multiple police officers working traffic enforcement, including several in Rocklin, also noted another overarching issue that public may not think about when it comes to incorportating apps like Waze into their driving habits. Pointing out how tricky it is for police officers to get used to the technology-cluttered interiors of patrol cars, Rocklin Police Captain Lon Milka observed that it can take time to see the roadway clearly beyond things like police radios, K-9s, laptop computers and special vehicle functions.

"That's kinda' something you have to train your mind to do," Milka acknowledged. "When you're a junior officer or a rookie officer, or a roadway officer, half the time you're concentrating on the roadway and you don't even hear your radio call. Then your training officer will say, 'That was for you.' You have to train yourself to listen to the radio and to drive ... I've run into problem talking on my hands-free cell phone and wondering 'How did I get to where I am?'"

GRAPHIC: 1 / 2 Millions of Americans are now trying to scan the roadways ahead of them with the Waze app, including for alerts on where police officers are patrolling. 2 / 2 The Waze app will give you a warning when officers are ahead.