Surrey police accused of using ‘phantom’ traffic units on Waze app

Force says tactic is easy way to get drivers to slow down' after budget cuts reduced traffic policing numbers

Surrey's police force has been accused of operating phantom units" after traffic officers admitted to providing misleading data to a satnav app.

Officers said on Twitter that they falsely reported their locations as stationary on the Waze traffic app, which suggests they may be operating a speed trap, when they were in fact driving.

Surrey police claimed the tactic works perfectly" by encouraging drivers to slow down, adding that major cuts to policing budgets over the years had decimated traffic units across the country.

The tweet read: We definitely don't drop police markers on Waze at random points on our patrol, nope - never," followed by a winking emoji.

It added: An easy way to get drivers to slow down on our roads - thanks waze."

Angry commenters accused the force of creating phantom units", putting false information" on the app, lying" and altering computer records to deceive other users".