08 January 2009

Google Streetview assists in a different type of search

Despite being seen by some as an invasion of privacy, Google Streetview has come to the rescue, assisting Virginia State Police in the arrest of a woman and the recovery of her allegedly kidnapped 9-year-old granddaughter.

According to Police Chief Timothy C. Anderson, the child, Natalie Maltais, and grandmother, Rose Maltais had been missing since Saturday, when Ms. Maltais picked Natalie for a supposed weekend visit. Worried by comments made to them by the grandmother, stating that they'd never see the child again and fearing that the grandmother might be taking the child to see her boilogical mother in Louisiana, the guardians of Natalie contacted police and an arrest warrant was then issued for Ms. Maltais charging kidnapping.

The child and grandmother were then tracked down to a motel in south-central Virginia and Ms. Maltais was placed under arrest. The arrest of Ms. Maltais and the recovery of the child was a result of clever investigative work by Athol Plice Officer Todd Neale and Deputy Fire Chief Thomas V. Lozier.

Athol Police had Natalie's cell phone number after speaking with her and her grandmother on Monday evening, so they requested the GPS coordinates of the phone during recent uses from the phone's service provider. Todd Neale and Thomas Lozier then determined that the coordinates corresponded to an intersection on Virginia Route 11, near Natural Bridge, VA.

The pair used Google Maps Streetview to look back and forth from the intersection. Looking across a field, Deputy Chief Lozier saw a long building with a red roof that looked like a motel. He then did a search on Google for motels in Natural Bridge and found the Budget Inn-Natural Bridge which, on the map, appeared to be close to the intersection. This was then confirmed by looking at Google's satellite view of the motel.

Speaking to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Lozier said: "I told Todd if I was going to throw the dice, I'd throw them there."

Office Neale then contacted Virginia Police and relayed the information provided by Deputy Chief Lozier's Googling. The grandmother and child were quickly found, with Ms. Maltais being placed into custody and Natalie being taking into the care of the Virginia Department of Social Services, who will look after her until she is returned to her legal guardians.

Ms. Maltais is being held in Virginia while awaiting rendition to Massachusetts to face charges, which are still to be determined.

While privacy watchdogs may give Google Streetview a bad rap, in this case it appears to have been an effective tool, assisting in an altogether different type of search than Google is generally used for.

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