∞ iPhone users anger D.C. police chief

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Want to foil police efforts to catch speeders in Washington, D.C.? There’s an app for that.

iPhone 3GSIt seems that iPhone users in D.C. have upset local police by using GPS apps that pinpoint the location of speed traps and traffic cameras, according to a report on the Washington Examiner. D.C. Police Chief, Cathy Lanier, called the technology “cowardly” and warned users that they would be caught.

It’s no wonder the police are upset. According to the Examiner, from 2005 to 2008 the police cameras generated almost $1 billion in revenue. However, Lanier said the 290 cameras in the D.C. area are all about public safety and saving lives.

Apple said earlier this week that it had more than 65,000 apps available in its App Store. Currently over 1,200 of those apps are in the GPS and navigation category, although not all show you cameras and speed traps.

While Washington police admit there is no way to stop technology, the force vows to increase its efforts to ensure public safety.


  • Kevin

    Is America behind the rest of the world or something?!
    Speed camera POI have been around ages for sat navs?!

  • http://www.van-garde.com Daniel Swanson

    I don’t think knowing where cameras are is any worse than knowing where speed bumps and humps are.

    Law enforcements and various deterrents have different levels of effectiveness on different people. To the sane and rational, they serve as reminders to drive safely and responsibly for the sake of everyone’s well being. To the short-sighted and irrational, they serve to slow one’s progress temporarily only while the driver is in the area of the deterrent. Well, that’s better than nothing.

    I doubt if any such iPhone apps will put a noticeable dent in municipal revenue, though. Those who could really stand to save on traffic fines, would seem to be those who either couldn’t afford an iPhone because of all the fines and high insurance premiums, or those who wouldn’t be rational enough to buy or routinely consult such an app while tearing up the asphalt.

  • JD

    Maybe the police should focus on protecting and serving rather than acting as tax collectors for the bureaucrats who have sold this pack of crap to the public under the guise of public safety all the while collecting money for their re-elections from the insurance companies pushing that agenda.

  • http://www.noonedriving.com HowManoid

    This madness has over-run the UK like pond weed. You can’t drive 100 yards over there without passing one of these things. It’s got nothing to do with public safety and a lot to do with raking in the cash.

    As for being cowardly?? What??? How is knowing about a camera more cowardly than planting the thing in the first place? I think Ms Lanier has been taking critical thinking lessons from Sarah Plain!

  • jr

    Who’s a coward? The police, or you lot for not wanting to be caught breaking the law?

    At least here in Australia (where we have a large number of speed cameras, some mounted in unmarked, parked cars, that can shift location @ will) the majority of road users accept that speed kills and has to be curtailed.

    The next life saved might be yours, maybe not by your own bad road manners, but as a result of some other lunatic being caught and forced to slow down.

    Time for the “ME” generation to wake up to reality, me thinks.

  • Henry Bowman

    Lanier already outed herself as an anal-retentive control freak during DC v. Heller, so this outburst is no surprise. Lanier is the type of po-lice that gives “police state” a bad name. It’s not for nothing that they call DC The Last Plantation.

  • Blue Buzzard

    How about testing drivers each year after they are convicted of speeding? The cost of said test to be paid by the violator.

  • Colin

    I’m confused…the app let’s them know where the cameras are, then they don’t run the red lights. Doesn’t this actually make the streets safer? If the police chief’s concern is really public safety and not tax collection, shouldn’t this make him happy???

  • jr

    Bottom line, if your need is speed, get on the race track.

  • http://www.noonedriving.com HowManoid

    We’re not talking about speed. We’re not talking about breaking the law or condoning doing so. We’re not talking about manners or racing or being lunatics ad we’re sure as hell not talking about killing anybody.

    We’re talking about abuse of power. The imposition of unwarranted surveillance on law abiding citizens and the worrying trend from policing to revenue generation. We’re talking about the arrogance of a police chief who thinks we’re stupid enough to not know the difference between her spin and the truth.

    I think it’s disturbing when a population becomes numb to the erosion of quality of life and liberty. We’ve seen way too much of that in the USA over the last 10 years. It’s about time that this 1984 stuff was left on the pages of Mr Orwell’s book and seen by us as the warning he intended it to be.

    As for being part of the “Me” generation. I’m probably older than you are. Heck, I’m older than most people. The only part of “Me” I care about is not getting ripped off by the folks who are supposed to protect our society, not milk it for every dime they can.

  • jr

    Hi fellow mac user, HowManoid!

    Your gesture is a noble one, but hey, spying? Unwarranted speed detection cameras spying on law abiding citizens?

    Now last time I looked, speed cameras were triggered and take a pic when they detect a speeding motorist. At least that’s how it works here DownUnder.

    Same with red light runners.

    Law abiding citizens don’t get caught, right?

    I’m all for maintaining civil liberties. Some cops and other over-zealous officials here don’t like me at all because I stand and challenge any infringement on my rights.

    By all means defend your liberty, just ensure your cause is justified. Given the chance, it would be shoulder to shoulder, brother.

    Finally, you’re over 65 then?

    Oh, and speeding drivers do often kill innocent people, which was my point re killing.

  • http://www.bynkii.com/ john C. Welch

    in the U.S., the primary, and indeed, only real motivator for the up-front expense of traffic light/speeding cameras is $$. Every presentation given to locales that doesn’t have them centers on the money that will flow in once you install them.

    The money is a powerful enough motivator that many places have gotten busted shortening yellow-light times to generate more cash, even though the serious studies done on the subject show that if you want to see a large, long-term drop in red-light running, *increasing* the yellow time by a second or two is the better choice.

    but you don’t get any money from that.

    It also makes it impossible to confront your accuser, and it’s been shown, over and over that it is nearly impossible to challenge these tickets, because ‘machines and computers don’t lie’. As an IT vet of a couple of decades, that part makes me laugh.

    Also, these systems do not ticket the driver. You know, the person actually speeding. They ticket the car. Well, if the person who owns the car isn’t driving, they still get the ticket. So now, you can be convicted of a (very) minor crime, have your insurance jacked up, and not have to even leave the house! how cool is that.

  • jr

    John, if what you say is the norm in the US, I’m glad I live in Aus.

    Here you have the right transfer the blame by providing the name of the actual person driving.

    In short, we have the right to challenge the law enforcers.

    I pity US citizens anyway as they have lost their right to democracy, with the person with the deepest pockets getting the top job in the country.

    Sincere regards, Jim R

  • http://geerfarmhouse.blogspot.com SteveG

    What is the purpose of the speed camera? To slow down traffic, or make money?

    If the purpose is to slow down traffic, then they should be thanking the developers of this iPhone application because it is helping drivers to identify the location of speed cameras and slow down. Granted, it would be nice if drivers would obey the speed limit all the time, not just where there are speed cameras.

    Clearly, however, D.C. setup the speed cameras as a revenue source. Bad cop, no donut!

  • Reginald W

    They have introduced count-down timers to indicate when the light will change in a number of intersections, including those with photo-radar/red-light cameras here in the last while. I’ve never had a photo-radar or red-light ticket so far in my life, although I have had radar tickets from a live cop in the street, but not for a while. I try not to be in a hurry, I definitely avoid red lights whenever possible and I try to be defensive when driving.
    .
    I think we can all agree that the use of radar, photo-radar, red-light cameras has MULTIPLE effects, both safety as well as revenue generation. Which effect takes precedence may be determined by where you live, your communities need for revenue, local politicians/police, population and how it views speed, etc.
    .
    However, technology is technology, and EVERYONE needs to be enabled to use it. If a program allows people to be forewarned that an upcoming intersection has photo-radar and/or red-light cameras, or maybe has a high incidence of runners of red lights or collisions or whatever else might cause problems, then that is a GOOD thing IMHO. It would allow me to drive better having a co-pilot that is aware of the surroundings. My problem is I do not have an iPhone and being in Canada, I refuse to get one with Rogers. I’m waiting for the new entrants to show up before I would get an iPhone.
    .
    Until then, and even after, I will continue to drive defensively and avoid the tickets that are out there.

  • http://scintilliarium.com InRussetShadows

    Let’s get a few things straight.

    1) Speed cannot kill. That’s as senseless as saying that guns kill. What is missing in both cases is human action. Without human involvement, neither the gun nor the car (at any speed) can harm anyone. Don’t be stupid and start arguing about parking breaks failing or accidental discharges. Those cases are statistically irrelevant and you know it.

    2) What’s the point of speed limits? Is it to catch dangerous drivers? If so, their speed is not their crime — driving dangerously is. We already have laws to punish people for bad driving; the crime is called “reckless endangerment”.

    However, speed traps and speed limits are a HUGE source of cash. Let’s think for a moment — could the police possibly be guilty of lying about the importance of speed traps especially when money is involved? What’s human nature, people? Furthermore, what is the motive? Is the motive to save people from themselves (a dubious and never-ending task) or just scraping up cash from people who usually won’t or can’t fight back?

    Think about it. What’s easier? Fleecing the public or catching murderers? Sitting around flagging down speeders or going undercover in a drug bust? Again, what’s human nature?

    You want to really see how important this is to the police? Deny them the revenue from speeding tickets and you’ll see the cries of “public safety” disappear.

    This app rocks and we need 10,000 more exactly like it.

  • rwahrens

    I’ll add a bit of an adjustment to the two earlier posters about speed.

    True, it isn’t SPEED in and of itself that kills, it is the DIFFERENCE in speed between the general traffic and a speeder.

    If Traffic cops were truly concerned about catching dangerous drivers, they would target two classes of driver:

    1. reckless speeders that habitually drive over 15 MPH FASTER than traffic.

    2. insanely careful drivers that habitually drive LESS than 15 MPH than traffic.

    When traffic flows normally, studies have shown, regardless of the speed limit, it flows safely, and within the safe speed for prevailing conditions.

    What you want to catch are the idiots that think they can drive how they wish and endanger others by either forcing their way through traffic to drive faster, or force others around them by driving slower.

    The first thinks he/she is more important than the rest of us, and the second thinks he/she is a cop that can force others to drive safely.

    They are BOTH wrong.

  • impoverished at home

    Traffic cameras were outlawed in Minneapolis a while ago.

    So you now have precedent. Use it please.

    • impoverished at home

      That would be red light cameras, these also tracked speed as well.