Police are demanding that Google Inc. turn off the police tracking feature in its Waze app as they believe it could be used for stalking them.

Waze, acquired by Google for 1 billion in 2013, offers GPS navigation with community information sharing, including a feature for users to report the location of police running speed traps or other law enforcement operations.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck complained in a letter to Google in December that the app could be “misused by those with criminal intent to endanger police officers and the community.”

“I am confident your company did not intend the Waze app to be a means to allow those who wish to commit crimes to use the unwitting Waze community as their lookouts for the location of police officers,” Beck wrote.

Sheriff Mike Brown of Bedford County, Virginia, concurred with the assessment, telling the AP that Waze is used to hunt and harm police.

“The police community needs to coordinate an effort to have the owner, Google, act like the responsible corporate citizen they have always been and remove this feature from the application even before any litigation or statutory action,” said Brown.

Of particular note is that despite the protests of police, there are no known cases where Waze has been used to track down and attack police officers.

Waze spokeswoman Julie Mossler said the company thinks deeply about safety and security, and works with the New York police department and others by sharing information.

“These relationships keep citizens safe, promote faster emergency response and help alleviate traffic congestion,” Mossler said.

That it could potentially be used to stalk police is likely a given, and police are naturally concerned following the murder two New York Police Department officers in December. That doesn’t justify demands that the feature be removed though; if someone is determined to shoot police officers they don’t need Waze to do so. It is far more likely that police officers don’t like the fact that users are able to use the data to avoid speed traps, and the subsequent reduction in fine revenue they receive as a result.