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March 28, 2024

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Law Enforcement:

Apps that alert drivers to police checkpoints under fire

Harry Reid

Harry Reid

Think of it as the 21st century way of flashing headlights to warn oncoming drivers about police ahead.

That’s how Joe Scott, chief executive officer of PhantomALERT, describes the smart phone and GPS software applications his company produces that have come under fire from lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, for tipping off motorists to DUI checkpoints.

PhantomALERT, one of several software alert systems gaining popularity, relies on user-submitted information verified by other motorists to report a host of driving alerts, such as speed traps, DUI checkpoints, school zones, dangerous curves and red-light cameras.

“In short, what we do is help people avoid traffic tickets by helping them obey laws,” said Scott, whose company is based in Harrisburg, Pa.

But some lawmakers see the applications and devices differently, mainly taking issue with the information about DUI checkpoints.

Reid joined three other senators — Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Tom Udall, D-N.M. — on Tuesday urging smart phone makers to remove apps that “help drunk drivers evade police.”

“Giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern,” the senators said in a letter to Google, BlackBerry and Apple, asking for the apps to either be removed from online stores or altered to disable the DUI checkpoint function.

The manufacturer of BlackBerrys, Research In Motion, on Wednesday announced the removal of such applications from its online store.

Scott called the senators’ campaign a “knee-jerk reaction” to the software but noted downloads at PhantomALERT are up 8,000 percent since Monday.

Scott declined to say how many people overall use PhantomALERT, which starts at $9.99 per month, but he said there are 57,000 users in the Las Vegas metro area.

Other popular applications include Fuzz Alert and Cobra’s iRadar for iPhones and Trapster, which has more than 11 million users.

Metro Police, however, haven’t noticed a significant number of drivers using the software yet.

Sgt. Nate Anderson from Metro’s traffic bureau said patrol officers often report making many traffic stops in speed enforcement areas, despite it being publicized on the apps.

“They may work, but people aren’t using them,” he said.

As long as drivers aren’t distracted using the apps on phones or GPS devices, Anderson said, police view them as another means of creating driving awareness.

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” he said. “Ultimately, what we’re looking for is for people to slow down.”

Plus, law enforcement officials are required by law to announce DUI checkpoints ahead of time, Anderson said.

A Joining Forces Grant from the Nevada Department of Public Safety — Office of Traffic Safety often partially funds the checkpoints, paying for the deployment of a DUI van.

Last year, Metro Police operated 19 DUI checkpoints across the valley and — to catch drunks attempting to bypass them — employed saturation patrols nearby, he said.

Bottom line: “The drunks don’t pull up apps to see where the DUI checkpoints are,” Anderson said.

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