Google maps and Google Earth should be a regular LEA tool.

[VenomJockey]

Cold case solved 22 years on using Google maps. No telling how many cases could be helped along if Google maps, Google Earth and other mapping programs were a regular LEA tool.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49677843

Excerpt: "William Moldt, was reported missing from Lantana, Florida, on 7 November 1997. He failed to return home from a night out at a club when he was 40 years old. A missing person investigation was launched by police but the case went cold. On 28 August this year - 22 years on - police were called to reports of a car found in a pond in Moon Bay Circle. When the vehicle was pulled from the water, skeletal remains were found inside. One week later the remains were positively identified as belonging to Mr Moldt.

Mr Moldt's sunken car was spotted by a previous resident of the area after "doing a Google search", police said.
The man then contacted a current resident of Moon Bay Circle to tell them what he had seen. Using his personal drone, the current resident confirmed there was a car in the pond and contacted police. A report by the Charley Project, an online database of cold cases in the US, said the "vehicle had plainly [been] visible on a Google Earth satellite photo of the area since 2007, but apparently no-one had noticed it until 2019".

 

[lonewolf]

be careful using Google, I have been told Google uses any and all of your info for its own benefit, so much so that many Brits no longer use it. I use Bing maps instead.

 

[VenomJockey]

be careful using Google, I have been told Google uses any and all of your info for its own benefit, so much so that many Brits no longer use it. I use Bing maps instead.

Google has become another Microsoft....all data goes back to Google. Your computer sends them a copy of the log files and there is no way to disable it as far as I can tell. If you don't want Google to have it, don't put it on your computer!

 

[Sentry18]

Depending on the police department and it's size/resources, we have things that far exceed what one can get from public access to Google maps. But because of the demands on these systems, prioritization often results in some cases falling off the radar.