Where’s the catch when it’s the police themselves reporting their stationary presence on the road via Waze? It may be a ruse to encourage motorists to slow down. In any case, the tactic seems to be well established in Surrey, in the United Kingdom.
It’s a bit like those signs indicating “frequent police checks” on the road: the mere sight of them makes some people take their foot off the accelerator. In the UK, Surrey County Police had the ingenious idea of hijacking the use of Waze to achieve the same result. She thus reports ghost patrols on the roads of this region of south-east England.
A quick click on Waze…
No one would have noticed if the police themselves hadn’t spilled the beans. The agents concerned declared on their Twitter account that they had maliciously reported their (false) stationary presence on the GPS application, thus suggesting the use of a fixed speed camera, while their patrol was in fact in motion. “We certainly don’t drop police markers on Waze at random points on our patrol, no, never”can we read on the tweet full of irony.
We definitely don’t drop Police markers on Waze at random points on our patrol, nope – never ?
An easy way to get drivers to slow down on our roads – thanks @waze. pic.twitter.com/rrv9I9LJJ6
— Roads Policing – Surrey Police – UK (@SurreyRoadCops) August 29, 2022
Obviously, after such a tweet, the Surrey County Police had to face the ire of Internet users. The police were accused of “create phantom units”of “spread false information”of “lie”, etc. However, they took the opportunity to send a message of a political nature, arguing that they are not “not responsible for the major cuts to police department budgets over the years, which have decimated traffic units across the country”.
The modern equivalent of the radar panel
Edmund King, president of the British Automobile Association, also leans towards this hypothesis with our colleagues from the Guardian. He explains that the police is only adapting its strategy to a lack of resources – the number of employees has fallen by 22% in seven years. He adds : “We know speed camera signs affect driver behavior and cause some to slow down. Using police markers on Waze to indicate a police presence is just its modern equivalent […] With five deaths a day on our roads, it’s hard to argue against police tactics that potentially slow down drivers and save lives.”.
According to Surrey County Police, this tactic is already approved as it “works for about 10-20 minutes”.