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Google Used to ID Hit-And-Run Victim

Posted by timothy on from the power-of-the-net dept.

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?"

8 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. They do use Google... by sgant · · Score: 5, Funny

    But it's not a simple matter of typing in someones name and it comes up "he was killed in a hit-and-run , hit F5 to solve the case".

    The cops USE Google, but they still have to be the ones that put 2 and 2 together to get a conclusion.

    --

    "Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
    1. Re:They do use Google... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, of course not, because "F5" is different depending on which web browser they use. And if they're using a Mac, it's a whole different process altogether ("drag the victim into the case-solved file").

    2. Re:They do use Google... by NetNifty · · Score: 3, Funny

      "The cops USE Google, but they still have to be the ones that put 2 and 2 together to get a conclusion."

      Sure about that?

      --
      Linux Wireless Hardware in the UK
  2. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  3. New Meaning by whiteranger99x · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess that puts a new meaning to Google's "Don't be evil" slogan. =)

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  4. CSI: Google Geek by Cryofan · · Score: 4, Funny

    The story of how one Google-obsessed computer geek solves crime after crime, all the while consuming vast quantities of pizzz, snacks, soda and coffee...

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    eat shiat and bark at the moon
  5. Re:Sort of off topic... by jrumney · · Score: 4, Funny
    But ever put your name in to a Google search?

    Apparently some 14 year old girl on the other side of the world has the hots for me. I read it in her livejournal.

    Google: bringing false hope to thirtysomething geeks since 1998.

  6. After all, they paid for it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now if only the USPTO would google for prior art.