This is a website and a smartphone app.

The idea is simple.

Users download the app to their smartphone.

Whenever they are driving, if they see a police car, they tap the app. This sends their location - anonymously - to the website.

In return, when they approach a location where a police car is known to have been recently (as data ages, points are removed from the plot) they receive an alert.

Users gain points if their sighting reports are confirmed by another user.

The app also allows users to enter a description and registration of any unmarked police vehicles they spot.

The site is financed by advertising; sighting alerts include a small advert.

Users can also subscribe to access deeper levels of statistical data.
-- 8th of 7, Aug 02 2013

In a similar spirit... Dispensable_20Radar_20Detector_2fJammers
[normzone, Aug 03 2013]

I don't think it has quite reached app level, but a friend of mine has/had a speed trap spotting update to his satnav maps, with the subscription fee for the information waived for those who submit camera/polis locations. Being in passenger in his car with this thing going involved lurching from hyperspeed to sunday driver and back again every 67 yards.
-- calum, Aug 02 2013


Police notes apps tallying their favorite spots, relocates. Cat-and-mouse free-for-all.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 02 2013


oooh, have a bun. I thought of something similar, based on numberplate recognition and GPS but shelved it because I thought numberplate recognition was beyond a smartphone. But it turns out it's totally baked <link>. So it's a complete goer. Have your smartphone on your dash, tap it when you recognize a police car, either regular or unmarked. This then feeds into the database. From there you can build up zones of probability, not unlike electron orbitals, only with sharper corners and a vastly different wavelength.

I'd expect that human police officers get into patrol habits, and there are boundaries between forces. It'd be interesting for both law enforcement personnel and velocity enthusiasts.
-- bs0u0155, Aug 02 2013


"Hmm... this particular locale seems to be an epicenter of a lot of cop orbitals. High crime area?"

"Nope, 24-hour donut shop..."
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 02 2013


[+]Similar to what the CB radio and "Smokey and the Bandit" were to the 70's. Who will play the Bandit and what will he drive in the remake using this system?
-- cudgel, Aug 02 2013


// Who will play the Bandit //

Either Daniel Craig or Nicholas Cage, possibly even Vin Diesel.

// and what will he drive in the remake using this system? //

An M1 Abrams.
-- 8th of 7, Aug 02 2013


Not Nicholas Cage. Anybody but Nicholas Cage.

Daniel Craig is entirely too straightlaced for the part. I could see Vin Diesel, but that's kindof baked anyway in FF ad infinitum. Maybe Jason Statham would work...
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 02 2013


There's a GPS navigation app called Waze that has a lot of this functionality built in, including the points system for reporting police (and other traffic hazards) and having your reports confirmed by others. It's also pretty good at routing you around traffic, since it gets crowdsourced traffic data in real time from others using the app.
-- ytk, Aug 02 2013


financed by dunkin donuts ads
-- notripe, Aug 13 2013



random, halfbakery