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| Posted By: Google Earth Posted On: Jun 29, 2008 Views: 376 | GPS used to nail druggie When a Wisconsin man was arrested last October on suspicion of harvesting 18 pounds of marijuana, it was partly thanks to Google Earth. The sheriff's deputies who pulled the man over found, in addition to what they estimated was at least $63,000 worth of pot, a GPS unit around his neck that was filled with a series of local coordinates, according to The Journal Times of Racine, Wis. After plugging those coordinates into Google Earth, the police were able to identify the location of several marijuana fields to which the man was allegedly connected. While the cops would have been able to find the fields strictly based on the GPS coordinates, their use of Google Earth demonstrated just one way in which law enforcement agencies across the country and around the world are using the popular mapping service, both to fight crime and to offer valuable information to the public. It's impossible to say just how many law enforcement agencies are actively using Google Earth, but one thing is certain: looking at Google's often detailed images is a lot cheaper than flying helicopters or planes, particularly in remote areas with cash-strapped police departments. Google Earth law Todd Fulton, a deputy in the Humboldt County, Calif., sheriff's department, said his agency is also using Google Earth as one piece in its marijuana interdiction activities, albeit a small one. "We'll use GPS (devices) and transfer the GPS data over to Google Earth," Fulton said, "to get an idea of the terrain we're dealing with." That's particularly useful in a region like Humboldt County--one of the largest marijuana-growing regions in the United States--given that it consists of millions of acres of rough, hilly terrain. So being able to use Google Earth to do something that previously might have required flying around in a helicopter is much more efficient, Fulton suggested. |