Jun 19, 2009 1:45 pm US/Mountain
Google's Street View Helps Police Nab Crooks
Teen Victim Discovers Suspects On Mapping Application, Notifies Police
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) ―
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A Google Street View camera fastened on top of a car is seen in Amsterdam on March 19, 2009. This camera provides Google Maps and Google Earth 360 degree horizontal and 290 degree vertical panoramic street level views of streets.
Toussaint Kluiters/AFP/Getty Images
Dutch police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google's Street View map application, a spokesman said Friday.
Paul Heidanus, a police spokesman in the town of Groningen, said he believed it was the first time Street View images had been used in a Dutch criminal investigation.
"For us, it is unique," he said.
A 14-year-old boy told police last September he had been robbed of 165 euros ($230) and his cell phone after two men dragged him off his bicycle in Groningen,110 miles northeast of the capital, Amsterdam.
The victim called again in March after seeing an image of himself and two men he believed were his attackers on Street View, police said in a statement.
Heidanus said prosecutors sent a formal request to Google for the original photo because people's faces are blurred on Street View.
"You must tell Google clearly why you want them," Heidanus said of the photo request. In this case, "the photo could provide an important contribution to solving a crime."
The company complied, and a robbery squad detective immediately recognized one of the twins.
Prosecutors will now decide whether to charge the suspects, whose identities were not released.
Since it was launched in 2007, Street View has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide. But it has drawn complaints from individuals and institutions that have been photographed, including the Pentagon, which barred Google from photographing U.S. military bases for the application.
A spokesman for Google in the Netherlands did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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