Fla. Panhandle deputy uses Google Earth to arrest, charge man with illegally dumping boat

cox news ^ | 3-30-10 | Associated Press

[cajuncow]

PACE, Fla. (Associated Press) -- A Florida Panhandle deputy was able to track down and arrest a man on charges of illegally dumping a boat near his home with a surprising tool: satellite pictures provided by Google Earth.

Deputy Gregory Barnes used the images after finding an 18-foot boat dumped in an undeveloped subdivision about 15 miles north of Pensacola.

[cajuncow]

I guess the government will use Google Earth to spot and identify me at the drive thru picking up addictive fatty foods and punish me accordingly under the health care reform.

[El Gran Salseron]

Anyone who would dispose of a boat.....a BOAT, should be castrated! A boat can always be repaired. Just ask any Cajun! :-)

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

I can’t decide what’s more stupid:

Setting yourself up for a fine and a prison term by dumping a boat that would only be $18 to drop off at the landfill, or the fact that such a minor infraction warrants a $5000 fine and five years in jail.

[cajuncow]

Had it been aluminum, it would not have ended up being dumped in that subdivision.

[lormand]

"Just ask any Cajun!"

A Cajun can look at a field of rice, and tell you how much gravy it would take to cover it all.

[DesertRhino]

So basically, we used a satellite, to solve a littering case? Robert Goddard and Werner Von Braun would be so very proud.

[Waverunner]

And how many nutria it would take to make the sausage to go with it.

[wideminded]

Barnes used it to look at the surrounding area and saw a fuzzy image of the vessel at Dwight Everett Foster's home.

Authorities say Foster admitted dumping the boat and his son later removed it.

If the boat was at his house, why is that considered "dumping"?

[cajuncow]

I’m having visions of satellites monitoring energy leaks from homes under Cap and Trade.

[DesertRhino]

The important lesson was that the fuzzy image actually “proved” nothing. He was caught because he decided to talk to the cops.

[Busywhiskers]

Nutria sausage pretty good?

[Orange1998]

Our local permit division has been using google for years.

[rednesss]

"The important lesson was that the fuzzy image actually “proved” nothing. He was caught because he decided to talk to the cops."

That's what I was thinking. Anyone who has used Google Earth would know that it has crappy resolution. Tell the cop to come back with an NSA picture with enough resolution to read a newspaper from space with or go pound sand.

[GloriaJane]

Here’s my idea of a joke - Hey man, I was drunk and just forgot where I parked it.

[Touch Not the Cat]

.
They either got too many cops or not enough crime in Pace, Florida.

[a fool in paradise]

“Police say it cost $18 to dispose of the boat at a landfill.”

A dollar a foot.

[a fool in paradise]

Revenue tickets.

[steve86]

Here you’d have to cut it up, which isn’t fun with fiberglass.

[a fool in paradise]

Thermal maps. Could be. Or winter photos of snow covered roofs up north.

[goseminoles]

The drunks come out at night. This must have been a day time investigation.