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NYPD To Google: Stop Revealing the Location of Police Checkpoints (nypost.com) 389

schwit1 shares a report from the New York Post: The NYPD is calling on Google to yank a feature from its Waze traffic app that tips off drivers to police checkpoints -- warning it could be considered "criminal conduct," according to a report on Wednesday. The department sent a cease-and-desist letter over the weekend demanding Google disable the crowd-sourced app's function that allows motorists to pinpoint police whereabouts, StreetsBlog reported. "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," wrote Acting Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters Ann Prunty in the letter, according to the website. My $0.02 is that the NYPD loses on first amendment grounds.
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NYPD To Google: Stop Revealing the Location of Police Checkpoints

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  • Response: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by reanjr ( 588767 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @03:05AM (#58082490) Homepage

    SOTU to NYPD: STFU

    • Re:Response: (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @04:20AM (#58082646) Homepage

      If only there was a way for the police to use this to their advantage, eg. to herd all the checkpoint-evaders into a trap.

      • Response (Score:5, Interesting)

        by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @07:22AM (#58082982) Journal

        There is. [usfca.edu]

        TWO FRIENDS ARE DRIVING HOME after a night on the town. A few miles from their freeway exit, they see a sign that reads “Drug Checkpoint 1 Mile Ahead.” There is nothing to worry about—neither party is carrying contraband and the driver is sober. But their exit is only a few miles away and the weary travelers want to avoid the hassle of a stop. The driver takes the first exit he sees after the sign; much to his surprise, he encounters a drug checkpoint located at the bottom of the off-ramp. The bewildered driver turns to his companion and asks; “Can they do that?” Regardless of whether law enforcement can use such tactics, they have.

        • by EvilSS ( 557649 )
          They do this where I live. It's kind of an idiot trap. Anyone with common sense would realize the local cops won't shut down a major interstate for a drug checkpoint.
        • by Anonymous Coward

          Yep. While it is illegal for you to lie to law enforcement, it is not illegal for law enforcement to lie to you.

    • Re:Response: (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MitchDev ( 2526834 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @08:06AM (#58083098)

      Amen to that. You claim it's all about safety and not revenue? Visible cops will deter bad driving more than hidden speed traps and these bullshit "Checkpoints"...
      Fuck you and your secret police shit.

      • Re:Response: (Score:5, Insightful)

        by rbgnr111 ( 324379 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @08:49AM (#58083212)

        I totally agree. In fact I think the hidden speed traps are more hazardousness than they are helpful.
        There have been too many times when I'm jamming on the breaks and swerving into the median trying not to hit the car in front of me, or seeing this in cars ahead, because we went from 70 down to 45, just because over a hill or around a corner was a speed trap.
        when you see the police just driving in traffic, people slow down, less abruptly, and drive more safely. The speed traps are all about revenue and have nothing to do with public safety.

        • Re:Response: (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07, 2019 @11:26AM (#58083916)

          If you need to swerve to avoid hitting the car in front of you, you are too close. Leave a larger stopping distance for your own safety.

    • Re:Response: (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ganjadude ( 952775 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @09:47AM (#58083414) Homepage
      in NY it is law for them to post where these are going to be anyway.... so I am not really sure what their complaint is. what that waze is posting what the PD is legally obligated to post before any checkpoints anyway??
      • by eepok ( 545733 )

        This has always been a tongue-in-cheek requirement. They'll post it on their website, on a bulletin board in City Hall, and/or a local newspaper knowing damn well that drunk drivers plan their nights around the postings.

        Said drivers, however, are willing to throw on Google Maps/Waze when they stumble into their vehicles after a night out. And Google/Waze will be there to help them crash into someone instead of being arrested.

    • Re:Response: (Score:4, Insightful)

      by currently_awake ( 1248758 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @11:12AM (#58083844)
      Police have claimed that putting a GPS tracker on a car is ok. Something about no expectation of privacy in a public place.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07, 2019 @03:12AM (#58082508)

    About 5-10 years ago, there was a Supreme Court opinion that said people flashing their headlights to indicate a police presence was a 1st amendment right.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Citation?
      • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07, 2019 @06:04AM (#58082844)

        I haven't found a Supreme court opinion on the subject, but a Federal district court judge granted a preliminary injunction against the City/Police in Ellisville Missouri regarding this. See "Elli vs Ellisville" from 2014. (I am not the same AC you asked for a citation, just thought I'd give googling for one a shot)

        • by bigpat ( 158134 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @11:24AM (#58083896)

          I haven't found a Supreme court opinion on the subject, but a Federal district court judge granted a preliminary injunction against the City/Police in Ellisville Missouri regarding this. See "Elli vs Ellisville" from 2014. (I am not the same AC you asked for a citation, just thought I'd give googling for one a shot)

          And the standard here isn't that people were helping people get away with criminal behavior. Flashing your lights at someone (and by anology letting people know about a police checkpoint) is the equivalent of telling someone not to commit that crime. This isn't the equivalent of a look out for a drug lab radioing in to let them know about a police raid.

          So if you are speeding and I flash my lights to warn you of a speed trap that doesn't help the furtherance of a crime, you are going to slow down and comply with the speed limit. Likewise if there is a police checkpoint then you are going to drive more carefully or might just decide to stop driving if you had a couple. People are going to stop the criminal behavior, at least for a period of time.

          Deterrence is the whole point of having speed traps and police check points... which is completely in-line with people being made aware of them.

          • Deterrence is the whole point of having speed traps and police check points... which is completely in-line with people being made aware of them.

            Speed traps and check points have NOTHING to do with deterrence. They generate revenue, plain and simple. And perhaps prevention in the case of DWI checkpoints.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by schwit1 ( 797399 )
      • by Anonymous Coward

        Elli v. Ellisville, 2014.
        Initial hearing in Federal District court was a temporary injunction against the town of Ellisville, second hearing resulted in a permanent injunction. The district court judge noted that headlight flashing was a personal expression and protected under the first amendment. Read Section 32.
        https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4299176/elli-v-ellisville-missouri-city-of/

        Since it's caselaw in the 8th Circuit court, to win, the NYPD would have to sue Google in a higher appellate court

    • by gl4ss ( 559668 )

      well they sure as fuck can't stop people from posting photos from a public place either.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Well, they have guns, so you have to agree. This is at the same time they protest that you shouldn't have guns, because it weakens the violence-factor of their guns.

        It seems the government wants their cake and wants to eat it, and then order another 50 cakes. You can't put the whole universe under 100% intense surveillance daily and expect they won't want to know what you're up to. Government acts don't carry zero consequences by public measure.

        Also, we're mostly clued into the idea that your goals don't co

    • by PolygamousRanchKid ( 1290638 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @07:59AM (#58083076)

      About 5-10 years ago, there was a Supreme Court opinion that said people flashing their headlights to indicate a police presence was a 1st amendment right.

      This popped up way back in the 70's in the US, when social media was Citizen Band (CD) radios.

      Truckers would alert each other to where "Smoky" (a cop) or other "Bears" (yet more cops) were hiding.

      Normal folks would just tune in and listen to the "traffic reports", and were most grateful to the truckers.

  • badges for bad guys (Score:4, Interesting)

    by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @03:39AM (#58082550) Journal

    When did policing in the United States become gestapo-like? I mean, it's always been that way for certain minority groups. I get that. But now it's just across the board, from local cops to staties to border patrol and that deepest of the deep state, ICE (who is actually not under the jurisdiction of any US court, if you can believe that).

    It's gotten to the point that anyone who wears a badge is the enemy. Cops in neo-Nazi gangs. Well, maybe not park rangers, but everyone else? Fuck them.

    • Maybe because if you're gestapo-like to minority groups nowadays, everybody hears about it? This way, it's non-discriminatory. Plus, when you have Google and Facebook, assistive technologies such as this levels the law enforcement playing field across demographic boundaries. Primarily, though, I think law enforcement is losing power to the people through this kind of immediate democratization of information -- if one person has a "police radio" now, effectively everybody does, globally.

      • Perhaps it's as simple as a means-to-an-end metric. Constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure are a rather regular hindrance to the average LEO's daily grind. To be fair, they are often doing a thankless job trifling with the dregs of society on a nightly basis, but protections offered to citizens are frequently in the way of the implementation of their duties.

        Regarding the predisposition to be heavy handed with minority groups, it's very likely personal biases play a role... but don't kid y

    • Park rangers, too. Was talking to a retired FAA engineer at dinner about his hijinks with park rangers trampling of rights for inholders. Luckily he was smart enough to stay out of trouble.
    • When did policing in the United States become gestapo-like?

      This isnt like that at all. These are traffic cops.

      To continue to be a traffic cop they must consistently bring in at least as much as they are paid, in revenue. Thats the bare minimum too.

      When ticket revenue is down, they get chewed out hard for sure. That money was expected.

      • by Cederic ( 9623 )

        To continue to be a traffic cop they must consistently bring in at least as much as they are paid, in revenue

        Bullshit.

        Traffic police provide a valuable public service in helping keep the roads open and usable, with vast economic benefits significantly beyond mere law violation related revenues.

        That role is recognised and justifies employing police to manage and support transport infrastructure even without generating any revenue.

        The revenue generation is both a genuine outcome of financially encouraging people to obey the law and also a seedy cash grab intended to mitigate the cost of operating the necessary traff

      • by jythie ( 914043 )
        Ahm.... these are DUI checkpoints. The revenue is not much, but they get drunk drivers who are currently drunk off the road. This isn't speed cameras or other big ticket revenue generators.
        • by Bruinwar ( 1034968 ) <bruinwar@hotmaiERDOSl.com minus math_god> on Thursday February 07, 2019 @08:17AM (#58083120)

          Ahm.... these are DUI checkpoints. The revenue is not much, but they get drunk drivers who are currently drunk off the road. This isn't speed cameras or other big ticket revenue generators.

          DUI convictions are huge money for municipalities. If somehow all alcohol users stopped driving, there would be budget shortfalls. A budget shortfall actually happened in the city of Westland Mi about 10 years ago due to a "labor action" on the part of the police department over contract negotiations. They stopped pulling people over & arresting them for DUI for several months.

          The massive fines for DUI is actually part of many cities budgets.

    • by jythie ( 914043 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @07:29AM (#58083004)
      Eh, the checkpoints and people trying to get around them is an issue going back decades, and a pretty contentious one since it tries to address one of those areas where 'but my freedom!' ends up killing 3rd parties.
    • by guruevi ( 827432 )

      These leftists start sounding more and more like conspiracy theorists.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Ed Tice ( 3732157 )
      How the heck did this get modded up? DWI checkpoints are a reasonable law enforcement tactic. The reason that we may want to side with Google here is because the need for law enforcement needs to be balanced with first amendment protections. Not because enforcing DWI laws in inherently bad.
      • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @12:20PM (#58084204) Journal

        DWI checkpoints are a reasonable law enforcement tactic.

        "DWI checkpoints" are not used to catch drunk drivers. They mainly go after expired plates, unpaid tickets, outstanding warrants. auto insurance, minor drug offenses.

        They're document checks, nothing more. The statistics on this are pretty clear.

    • When they became the enemy depended on your social status, ethnicity, skin color and sometimes if you failed to pay the vig. Police corruption is not rare or new. It's a bit more visible now we don't rely on dead tree media.

    • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @02:46PM (#58085078)
      on YouTube [youtube.com].

      Long story short it's a symptom of Tough on Crime Laws and police militarization that's created an "Us vs Them" mentality. The Drug War hurts a lot too since a large percentage of folks smoke pot or know someone who does and that means you're always scared shitless when a cops around since they can arrest you and take your stuff.

      The solution's easy: Stop Voting for Tough on Crime politicians, end the Drug war and stop civil asset forfeiture (which was created for the Drug War anyway). There's a few other odds and ends we can do (California has an anti-speed trap law, and properly funding your police so they're not dependent on civil asset forfeiture is a good start) too.
  • by Frobnicator ( 565869 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @03:44AM (#58082558) Journal

    The article talks both of DWI and of other speed and safety traps.

    The goal for speed enforcement is (or should be) for drivers to slow traffic down to the speed limit and drive safely. When the alerts show up, that is exactly what drivers do near the checkpoint. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, at least in that zone.

    What they should be asking for is inserting extra markers when dangerous conditions are forming, so those app users can reduce traffic speeds before a crash occurs.

    • This kind of warning would not even need to be a fake police sign. Even 'dangerous driving conditions ahead, slow down' could help.

      They have traffic density and speed data, they could choose to identify waves of dense, dangerously fast vehicles. They certainly can detect suddenly-slowing traffic. They could probably also pick up cars weaving through traffic with so many GPS-enabled phones. All of them could trigger a shout out to pay some extra attention.

    • by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @04:06AM (#58082610) Journal
      The ultimate goal is to slow people down to the speed limit. To try and accomplish that, the police issue fines: “you don’t want to pay that every time you drive too fast”, and to instill the idea that the likelihood of getting a fine when speedin is quite high: “we are watching”. For the second point, the police over here actually do publish the locations of speed traps themselves... just not all of them. A study suggests that it actually helps; people don’t keep checking the mile markers to see if they are near the speed trap, they tend to stick to the limit for a far larger stretch rather than keep speeding (and slamming the brakes as soon as they spot the camera).

      In some other European countries it is illegal to announce the location of speed traps. One radio station got around that by reporting incidences of “falling stars” instead.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Are there any studies on how many extra accidents speed traps cause?

        Sudden braking, people looking for the hidden speed camera vans instead of at the road, driving too slowly because they aren't sure what the limit is or don't trust the janky speed detectors, that kind of thing.

        This has happened to me a few times. People suddenly braking when they see the van, or doing 15 in a 40 zone. Once I was distracted by a van that looked kinda like a speed cam van, and when the real ones are out my strong instinct is

        • by djinn6 ( 1868030 )

          Sudden braking, people looking for the hidden speed camera vans instead of at the road, driving too slowly because they aren't sure what the limit is or don't trust the janky speed detectors

          If that's the problem, then issue fines on the basis of average speed between 2 speed traps. It should be easy to calculate the speed based on the time it took to go from one to the other.

          when the real ones are out my strong instinct is to keep checking the speedo rather than watching the road carefully.

          Drive 5 below then, or 10 below if you're truly terrible at maintaining a speed.

        • Actually yes, there was a recent study done here in NL. Turns out few people have problems driving closely within the speed limit, even where your average speed is measured over a long stretch of road... and fines are issued even for small infractions (5km/h over). People do break when they see police, whether they are running a speed trap or dealing with an accident, and while this may cause a traffic jam in busy traffic, it rarely causes accidents.
      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        The ultimate goal is to slow people down to the speed limit. To try and accomplish that, the police issue fines: “you don’t want to pay that every time you drive too fast”, and to instill the idea that the likelihood of getting a fine when speedin is quite high: “we are watching”. For the second point, the police over here actually do publish the locations of speed traps themselves... just not all of them. A study suggests that it actually helps; people don’t keep checking the mile markers to see if they are near the speed trap, they tend to stick to the limit for a far larger stretch rather than keep speeding (and slamming the brakes as soon as they spot the camera).

        In some other European countries it is illegal to announce the location of speed traps. One radio station got around that by reporting incidences of “falling stars” instead.

        Which European countries? I wish to make a note to avoid them.

        The UK publishes the locations of fixed and average speed cameras... It's almost as if they just want you to slow down.

        I've never been a believer in the "revenue" conspiracy theory because it just doesn't make sense to have a revenue stream designed to discourage repeat custom (if they truly were trying to raise revenue, they'd lower the fines so they're less trouble to pay and maybe give you a 14 day period where it's halved, like parking

    • The goal for speed enforcement is (or should be) for drivers to slow traffic down to the speed limit and drive safely. When the alerts show up, that is exactly what drivers do near the checkpoint. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, at least in that zone.

      No, all that happens is that loads of drivers slam on their brakes just before the cop/speed camera and potentially cause more accidents. They also go faster between speed traps.

      • by PPH ( 736903 )

        They also go faster between speed traps.

        Of course. We've got to make up for the lost time.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You are operating on the assumption that traffic tickets are about safety. In reality its about looting the public for money.

    • by havana9 ( 101033 )
      The fact is, having a system informing you of the spped limits and have some alert when you are over them is an useful feaute, like the cab sigalling on trains. There was an experimental system, working with UHF signals that was tried in the '90, but ultimately falied due the costs and the necessity to have a receiver in the car. With spatphones and GPS is a lot more cheap to make a system like this, warning also of accidents, slippy roads or other dangerous situations. On the other hand there are a lot o
  • by mysidia ( 191772 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @05:05AM (#58082750)

    This app also assists Lawful and Non-Impaired drivers in avoiding the inconvenience or uncomfortable situation of happening upon an unexpected checkpoint and possibly becoming subject to some search or test that they wish to avoid.

    In other words.... this functionality has lawful and beneficial uses, contrary to what their letter suggests.

    Furthermore, the submission, sharing, and dissemination of this information about government activity is speech of a political nature among the types of speech most strongly protected by the 1st Amendment of the US constitution, which the NYC PD is not above.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @05:24AM (#58082770)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      Regardless of what the 1st amendment grants you, maybe we should think about what exactly we're promoting here?

      If a built-up zone has a 30 km/h limit and someone is driving 60 km/h, hopefully most people can see why that is a problem. I wouldn't flash my lights to warn the driver there's a cop with a speed gun waiting down the road because that's a safety issue and there's no reason a pedestrian should be run over because someone can behave responsibly.

      On the other hand, if a country road with no hou
  • Law enforcement want tools that share data and discover people doing all manner of things in public. People want tools that share data and discover law enforcement doing all manner of things in public.

    Do you think one can be enabled, and the other is not?
  • by skam240 ( 789197 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @07:59AM (#58083078)

    DUI check points need to go back to the Supreme Court. Decades ago they were deemed a necessary limitation to our right to not be detained by the government for absolutely no reason, in the name of public safety (getting drunks off the roads). In the last couple of decades though multiple studies have shown that saturation policing is both cheaper and more effective at stopping drunks rendering that ruling inaccurate

  • by AndyKron ( 937105 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @08:01AM (#58083086)
    There shouldn't be any checkpoints. Keep the app up and make more
  • by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @08:25AM (#58083134) Journal
    We might argue here splitting hairs. But public is likely to side with NYPD than with first amendment warriors.

    Back when speed limits was very low and there was no alternative to drinking and driving majority of the public hated the speed traps and DWI check points. And would be in a mood to support the dodgers because they might need to dodge it themselves at some point.

    But now with easy Uber clones and public info campaign, most people avoid drinking and driving. Speed limits have gone up to 70. A very large majority of the the public no longer feel these checkpoints are targeting them, but instead they are targeting the "others", "them speed maniacs, and them drunken drivers". Public support is likely to be with NYPD, whether they win in courts or not. Google has a "win the court lose the people" dilemma in its hand.

    • A very large majority of the the WHITE public no longer feel these checkpoints are targeting them

      Fixed that for you.

  • Instead of threatening Google, why isn't the NYPD asking Google to dump the traffic data... Then filter out the folk who are regularly speeding along the same route?

    • Exactly. All the police know how to do anything is to threaten with arrest: "Your posting of checkpoints MAY BE BREAKING THE LAW! OMG!"

      But what the hell does Google care? Aren't they legally based overseas? So they can avoid the local arm of the law?

      Google is a FOR-PROFIT company. They care about REVENUE! The NYPD should find a way where posting checkpoints hurts Google's bottom line, not threaten them with arrest since they really can't anyway.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by Miles_O'Toole ( 5152533 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @10:27AM (#58083648)

    If they're allowed to get away with this, you can bet it won't be long before they'll be trying once again to make it illegal to video them when they're beating the crap out of somebody.

    The police need to be smacked down hard. If you happen to be part of a demographic they don't particularly like, your odds of getting beaten or killed by the cops for no particular reason are higher than your chances of being injured or killed in a terrorist attack.

    • >> demographic they don't particularly like

      That demographic is those who break laws, and it isn't a matter of "liking" or "disliking"; it is the enforcement of laws that someone else made. I'm sure your insinuation is "poor innocent ," but this whole line of thinking is completely propagandist. The stats are available for you to peruse if you dare to look at what the propagandists have labeled "hate stats."

      Most cases that the media push as "bad policing" have extremely relevant yet unreported details.

  • Google gives LEO all our data.

    Google will find a way.

  • Many of those checkpoints and speedtraps are about making money for them.
  • What to say (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bodhammer ( 559311 ) on Thursday February 07, 2019 @01:45PM (#58084710)
    I am going to remain silent. I want to see a lawyer.
    I do not consent to this search.
    Am I being detained? Am I free to go?
    Am I under arrest? What are the charges?

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