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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?"
that law enforcement and government agencies are finally starting to use the internet to its full potential.
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
Last year when I was doing web work for a car dealer a state policeman happened to come into the showroom asking for assistance. He had a piece of a tailight lens and that was it. Something had hit a parked car on some private property and that piece of lens was the only evidence. When the parts department said they couldn't help I poked my head up and volunteered. This drew some sneers from the "pros" behind the counter who felt that I couldn't possibly help with anything related to cars. Anyway, using Google I narrowed it down to a specific year and model of a Ford pickup. The police were able to track down the owner - it's not that big of a town. It was fun, though it took about two hours and I got quite a headache looking at so many images.
http://www.busyweather.com/
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I guess that puts a new meaning to Google's "Don't be evil" slogan. =)
Join the TWIT army now!
What about facial recognition software used for this purpose? If drivers license pictures were standardized and pictures taken at the morgue were made to the same standard (assuming the face of the disceased in not injured/damaged) is facial recognition software good enough to be used to try to identify John Does?
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...
eat shiat and bark at the moon
I do this all the time with problematic eBayers and Yahoo auction buyers and sellers that I run into.
I once had a guy email me and accuse me of stealing his Bang & Olufsen turntable that I was selling on ebay. He said he sold one on ebay two weeks prior to my auction and that the bidder (who happened to be 100 miles from me had made a claim that it was broken. He paid out on the claim. He accused me of being in cohorts with someone to pull a fast one and get the turntable, collect on insurance, then resell it on ebay for a double profit.
Well, I ended up googling his email address. Turns out - I got something to this affect on a "Discreet Personals Website" in Colorado:
"Male looking for other males for discreet, private meetings - into play, but nothing too rough"
I emailed him and told him I had found some information about him that I might post to eBayers That Suck dot com.
He didn't bother me after that.
I always google any problematic customer to see if they are a complainer on line or have anything "strange" about them - or are possibly on another business's hit list.
I google potential girlfriends names and if I have them, email addresses.
If you google my ID; adzoox, it brings up my website and home town of Greenville SC and things about me in the Upstate of South Carolina. Lots of google results are my slashdot posts from the past 3-4 months.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
I saw this on a TLC documentary about a year ago. This guy Patrick Critton hijacked a Canadian plane to Cuba back in 1971 and got away. The Canadian police re-opened the case, and searched for the man in all the police databases. Nothing was found. So then they did a Google search on the guys name, and lo and behold, one link from a local newspaper in Westchester County, NY had this guys name. The police went down there and sure enough, it was the same guy, over 30 years later. He had turned his life around and become a pillar in the community, mentor to young kids, etc etc.
t ml
Here's a link
http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSLaw0206/11_hijacker-cp.h
"Makes you wonder how it took law enforcement that long to think of this"
This is of little surprise to me.
If we look at the demographic that is the police, then the only saving grace is that they would probably contain a small percentage of "forward thinkers" - maybe 2-5% of their number, just as in most organisations.
Police officers often do not hold any formal qualification outside of high school, or their own training instutions.
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".
Later in their career they will graduate to perhaps detective. They then utilize past experiance and gain new initiative.
They would now have the opportunity and freedom(in work) to move beyond the text book.
There must be so many "old schoolers" in the police, where challenging tried and true process's requires seniority, an innovative bent, and the ability to say no to the old school.
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
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.
Now if only the USPTO would google for prior art.