The methods of certain police officers in the county of Surrey (United Kingdom) are not unanimous on social networks. In a series of tweets, the Road Safety Patrol explained that it was using the Waze GPS app to send ghost patrol reports, reports 01Net this Wednesday.
Outraged netizens
“We certainly don’t drop police markers on Waze in random places during our patrols, no, never. An easy way to get drivers to slow down on our roads – thank you Waze,” officers ironically said in a tweet spotted by The Guardian.
According to some netizens, this is a violation of local law against the misuse of a computer tool. Others have raised the issue that this method violates Waze’s Terms of Service, which penalizes false reporting. The agents replied that these were not false reports since they did indeed pass by the place indicated, otherwise they would not have been able to notify their presence on the GPS application.
No ghost unit
Faced with the controversy that has continued to swell on Twitter, Surrey County Police denounced these actions in a press release: “Although officers have used this application to deter dangerous driving on our roads, it is not This is not a tactic or policy endorsed by Surrey Police. »
Police added that while the use of this technique was currently being investigated, no shadow units had been created. The agents also seem to have understood the reactions of Internet users: “We know that this has raised concerns and damaged the confidence that the public has in us,” they said.