STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's report next on a battle between law enforcement officials and a navigation app called Waze. It gives you advice about traffic problems ahead other drivers report in. Some police are at odds with this app and the company's owner, which is Google, but not because of the traffic advice. NPR's Sam Sanders tells us why.
SAM SANDERS, BYLINE: Waze is kind of like Google Maps but with more.
(SOUNDBITE OF APP, "WAZE")
COMPUTER GENERATED VOICE: In a quarter of a mile, turn left on Venice Boulevard.
SANDERS: Besides getting directions, you can report things to ways in real time like traffic or construction, but that's not all you can report.
(SOUNDBITE OF APP, "WAZE")
COMPUTER GENERATED VOICE: Police reported ahead.
SANDERS: That feature - the police-tracker - is what upsets Sergio Kopelev. He's one of those behind the push to get Waze to ditch the feature. Kopelev is a reserve sheriff in Orange County, Calif.
SERGIO KOPELEV: I saw my wife using the app when she picked me up from the airport, and I saw her tag a location of a police officer.
SANDERS: He didn't like that.
KOPELEV: And then as the officer was moving, I saw her update the location. And so she told me about Waze and I said look, this isn't good.
SANDERS: Kopelev ended up giving a presentation about Waze at the National Sheriffs' Association Winter Conference. Law enforcement officers across the country have come out against the police-tracker. The chief of the Los Angeles Police Department even sent an open letter to Waze, saying it endangers police officers' lives. Dave Maass is with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and he says Waze and its police-tracker really aren't anything new.
DAVE MAASS: The idea of sharing information on where speed traps are and police officers are on the road is ingrained in road culture. Waze is just basically the new CB radio.
JOHN THOMPSON: In the '70s and '60s, when we used CB radios, times were different. People weren't assassinating police officers.
SANDERS: That's John Thompson, the deputy executive director of the National Sheriffs' Association. He and a lot of other officials point to the recent killings of two NYPD officers in an ambush-style attack. The shooter shared a screen grab of the police-tracker hours before the killings. But officials haven't directly linked Waze to the crime. In a statement, Waze wouldn't say what might happen to their police-tracking feature, but they did say it lots of police support it because people drive more carefully when they think police are around. John Thompson says he wants the tracker gone immediately, but he knows that might not happen.
THOMPSON: We'd like to talk with them. Ask them to listen to us, what our concern is and see if we can find a middle ground to fix this.
SANDERS: In the meantime, Thompson says, the National Sheriffs' Association will start hosting Waze trainings so police can better watch the app that's watching them. Sam Sanders, NPR News.