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Wheels.ca

How do police build better speed traps? Well, in Europe, they buy GPS data from satellite navigation giant TomTom.

Some European police departments are getting tips for placement of traffic cameras, and those tips are coming right from inside the cars of drivers via their in-car TomTom GPS systems.

Dutch police said they obtained information from TomTom, a maker of popular satellite navigation devices, while setting up speed traps, prompting concerns by users and an email apology (as well as a YouTube response) from TomTom CEO Harold Goddijn.

Related: New phone apps help drivers evade police

George de Boer, TomTom Senior Manager, admitted the company sold users’ GPS data to police, but he said the company didn’t know police were using the information to ambush drivers.

"Our intent was to give that road data to authorities to make the infrastructure better and to make roads better, and to make traffic more safe."

Bernhard Jens, of Utrecht Police, told AP the data remained anonymous.

So far, there are no reports of North American police agencies using TomTom data to set up speed traps.

Outside of Europe, TomTom also sells GPS data to governments in the U.S. and Canada.

Ontario, for example, has used TomTom data in the past to refine evacuation plans for the city of Toronto, according to the Wall Street Journal.

TomTom says it'll be reviewing its policy on data sharing to better protect users' privacy in the future.

See the video report below: