Google Won't Pull Checkpoint Evasion App

RedEaredSlider writes "Don't expect Google to remove apps that help users avoid DUI checkpoints — the company says it is leaving the controversial apps on its Android Marketplace. A source said the company only removes apps that violate its Android content policies and the apps in question do not appear to violate these policies." We'll see if Apple caves to pressure to remove them.

Unexpected benefits

[XxtraLarGe]

I wonder if they ever consider that this may actually be persuading people to not drink & drive. They check their phone, see that there are some drunk driver stake-outs, and they take a cab home instead. I'm sure it doesn't happen in all cases, but if it helps in a few, that's a good thing.

Re:Unexpected benefits

[StikyPad]

Meh.

Even assuming these apps were effective (which they're notoriously unreliable), anyone coherent enough to use this app and plan an alternate route is probably okay to drive.

Re:Unexpected benefits

[WNight]

Almost all of them have been stand up guys, and good people.

How many of them would write a fellow officer a traffic ticket? Those who wouldn't aren't good guys.

Evidence from my city suggests that most officers would hide evidence of a murder, if they feared the truth would implicate another officer.

Re:Unexpected benefits

[MBGMorden]

Really depends on the neighborhood/jurisdiction.

In my area, I actually work for the local county government (which is tied to and is the main source of funds for the county sheriff's office). You see that for the sheriff's deputies, they are usually much more lenient on things like traffic violations, because in reality the bulk of their funding is coming from property taxes and state funds - NOT traffic violations. As such, they are usually only out to enforce things that they truly believe are safety violations. When I was 17-18 in high school, if a county sheriff's deputy caught us drinking down an old dirt road, they generally didn't care - as long as we weren't throwing trash everywhere, and were in an area where there was unlikely to be any actual traffic (middle of the woods at midnight nobody else is typically on the roads), then they'd usually just let us go with a "Be careful, and stay out of trouble.".

Now, shift to town police instead. The smaller the town (and hence the less state funding they receive), the worse the officers are. They will ticket you for the smallest infraction. One small town around here has literally written tickets for as little as *3* mph over the speed limit. A news story was recently done on that down related to their draconian enforcement and it was exposed that 66% of their budget comes from the fines related to traffic violations. That "town" literally is an intersection with a mayor, judge, and 1-2 police officers (and a population of less than 100 people).

As such I wouldn't say that ALL law enforcement officers are out to be dicks, but realistically, when you tie their paycheck to the numbers of tickets they write, you're going to get draconian enforcement.