Google Used to ID Hit-And-Run Victim

jafiwam writes "Google has been used (according to CNN) to help identify a hit-and-run victim from 1993. Detective Pat Ditter used Google to identify victim David Glen Lewis, 39 who died after being hit by a car while out of town. An image involving a fairly unique pair of glasses was found on the Texas Department of Public Safety web site, and a similar image on the Doe Network (involved in unsolved cases). This was after Det. Ditter began working on unsolved cases utilizing Google as a tool in that process. Makes you wonder how it took law enforcement that long to think of this. Process servers, employers and significant others already use Google for theses purposes... why not cops?"

Re:Facial Recognition software?

[HellYeahAutomaton]

This is already being done.

Check out this paper on "Image Matching Using A Criminal Database":

http://mailweb.udlap.mx/~ingrid/caminoreal/Bobbie. pdf [udlap.mx]

eBay for stolen items

[Anonymous Coward]

A friend of mine had his laptop stolen a few years back, and filed a police report. He setup a regional search on eBay to notify him of hits on auctions for the laptop model and make he had. Sure enough, about 6 months later, he got a hit on a laptop with the same make, model, and system specs (the picture of the item also showed a distinct scratch the laptop had).
He contacted a detective with the sheriff's office and they contacted eBay, got the seller's contact information, and ended up recovering the laptop and arresting the guy. The sad part is, the police "never thought" of watching eBay for stolen items, especially expensive things like laptops. Now, the local sheriff's department utilizes eBay's saved searches to track stolen items being sold in the metro region on eBay, and I have heard they have successfully made arrests and/or recovered stolen items in other cases as well.

There's always a chance a criminal will pursue eBay to auction off stolen items, especially because the winning bidder will often live far away, and the fact that it's hard to sell expensive stolen items locally without getting caught.

Very True

[sideshow]

A 50+ year old copkiller cold case was sovled by the LAPD last year. All the homicide detectives had to do was just check the fingerprint found at the scene against the FBI's computers and they found their man.

Matching fingerprints isn't as easy as searching Google but it's pretty damn easy compared to olden days (the 80's) where the two prints were put side by side and someone had to visually compare them.

After that murder case was solved the LAPD decided to assign a group people to work on these cold cases. They have tons of physical evidence that can be matched against different databases (blood, fingerprints, DNA, etc.). All they need is the manpower to go through it.

Re:Police demographic

[StateOfTheUnion]

Fundamentaly, police in the field need the ability to arrest, tackle, and subdue violent offenders. The fact is, they need special...uh...abilities, to do this. Not the ability to "think outside the square".

Huh, most cops make quick assessments of situations and make life and death decisions based on limited information in a very short time frame. To say that they don't "think outside the square" is either ignorant, insulting or both.

I would recommend asking if your local police department permits "ride alongs." This is when you ride with a cop through his/her entire shift and see what they have to deal with on a regular day. Lots of police depts. in the USA permit this after a suitable background check.

The post makes me think that most of your knowledge of cops comes from the Fox show "Cops." Chasing bad guys and tackling them to the ground is exciting TV, but it's only a part of the everyday job that cops normally do. A lot of the time is spent assessing situations, talking down potentially violent, disturbance situations, analyzing situations, and weighing the available evidence in he said/she said situations.

Another headline from a non-thinker

[Awptimus Prime]

"Ditter began working on unsolved cases utilizing Google as a tool in that process. Makes you wonder how it took law enforcement that long to think of this."

Actually, law enforcement has been using internet search engines as long as they have been around. Just because an occasional case manages to get some media attention, does not mean the method is anything new at all.

Keep in mind, also, that Google has reached near retardation levels of attention in the media. Anything anyone does which results in something positive could just turn up as a media-worthy article to mention Google.

Look back 6 years and you'll see the same BS with Yahoo.

I swear, if the public had any less of an attention span, people suffocate from forgetting to breath.

The cops on Law and Order do this, have for years

[Primer]

Just about every variation of the TV show Law and Order (The normal one, Special Victims Unit, and Criminal Intent) has used google in their investigative research. In fact, they've even turned it into a verb:

"I googled for bla bla bla..."

Seeing that TV usually mimics reality, I have a feeling that real cops have been using google longer than we think.

Daniel

Because they're not very smart

[Anonymous Coward]

I had a kid run over my dog a few years ago (like 3) and I got his license plate. The trooper I talked to could find his name and address but it was pretty far away (in the same state) and he couldn't get a phone number for him. It took me one lookup on anywho. When the cop called back I gave him the number and he was astounded that I could get it.

Re:They do use Google...

[winwar]

"Speeding is a real crime."

Well, it is a minor one for the most part. In fact, I suspect nearly everyone breaks it. When everyone breaks a law, you had better consider the reasons for it....

"You only have to look at real world case studies to see that speed reduction on USA highways was the major factor in 9000 fewer road deaths in 1974."

Well, I can't read the case studies so I will take your word for it. But it is currently 2004, so those statistics are out of date.

"In 2002 the USA road toll exceeded 43,000 deaths. One-sixth of those deaths were solely due to unsafe driving speeds and speed was a contributing factor in more than one-half of the fatalities"

Over 7000 deaths due to unsafe driving speeds? Sorry, I don't believe you. Citations please. Despite your beliefs to the contrary, speed does NOT kill. Going to fast for conditions may result in an accident that MAY kill. Those are NOT the same things.

BTW, where were the predicted massive increases in deaths due to increasing US speed limits? Lots of people are still waiting.... This indicates that speeding is NOT a major factor in traffic fatalities.

Ah, here is some REAL data (http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/). Traffic fatalities per million miles travelled in 2003: 1.48 deaths. This is a HISTORIC low.
Some quotes from the annual NHSTA report (2002) "Unfortunately, impaired driving and failure to use safety belts continued to be major contributors to fatalities on our highways." and We will focus our efforts on increasing safety belt use, reducing impaired driving, improving inter-vehicle compatibility, reducing fatalities and injuries from rollover collisions,..."
Gee, speeding isn't even mentioned. So much for speeding and death rates....

"Cops should be arresting those Real Criminals instead of poor little old me when I was only exceeding the speed limit by 5mph in my 2500kg V8 4WD truck."

Well, yes they should. Murderers actually kill people. Other criminals haved caused REAL harm. If someone's speed has caused harm, then by all means arrest them. If it is LIKELY to cause harm, then ticket them.

"So the message is clear: STOP SPEEDING."

No it isn't. But, hey, never let the facts get in the way of your beliefs.