light_cameraDrivers looking to outwit police are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that sound an alarm as drivers approach speed or red-light cameras.

That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints.

Lanier said the technology is a “cowardly tactic” and “people who overly rely on those and break the law anyway are going to get caught” in one way or another.

The greater D.C. area has 290 red-light and speed cameras — comprising nearly 10 percent of all traffic cameras in the U.S., according to estimates by a camera-tracking database called the POI Factory.

The PhantomAlert database and Trapster App mimics radar detectors – which are outlawed in D.C. and Virginia – by alerting drivers of nearby enforcement “points of interest” via global positioning system devices. PhantomAlert keeps up to date on traffic enforcement through its users, who contribute information online.

Photo radar tickets generated nearly $1 billion in revenues for D.C. during fiscal years 2005 to 2008. In the current fiscal year, Montgomery County expects to make $29 million from its red light and speed cameras.

Highway robbery has been around since the first road. Now, government has figured out a “cowardly tactic” where they can legally rob travelers using a different kind of weapon while drinking coffee at the doughnut shop.

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