Google will give in to the request of Jose Barrera, a father from California, who found a satellite image on Google Maps showing the body of his son killed near a railway in Richmond in August 2009. Kevin Barrera, 14 years old that time, was shot to death and the perpetrators of the crime have not been caught.
The older Barrera discovered the image on the online maps last week. The scene of the crime was framed by the satellite that surveyed the city features a police car and officers near the railroad tracks and next to Kevin's lifeless body.
"When I see this image, that's still like that happened yesterday. And that brings me back to a lot of memories," said the mourning father in an interview with KTVU that first reported the story.
The search engine company reached out to KTVU to help them contact the Barrera. Google Maps Vice President Brian McClendon guaranteed the grieving family that they will replace the offending satellite image and will make an exception to expedite the process.
"Our hearts go out to the family of this young boy. Since the media first contacted us about the image, we've been looking at different technical solutions. Google has never accelerated the replacement of updated satellite imagery from our maps before, but given the circumstances we wanted to make an exception in this case," said McClendon in an email to KTVU.
Barrera said the discovery on Google Maps re-opened old wounds from four years ago and he is also hoping that the media attention they receive, will spark interest in his son's case.
"Sorry is not all. Just to say sorry? It affects my whole family. They (Google) need to be more careful when they publish in the future," shared Barrera.
"Maybe police gonna do something more to close the case.I want to use this to tell them, don't forget my son," he added.
According to a report on San Francisco Chronicle, the Richmond police confirmed that it was their detectives on the satellite image and it depicted the scene of the crime when Kevin's body was discovered.
"Your privacy and security are important to us. The Google Maps team takes a number of steps to help protect the privacy and anonymity of individuals when images are collected for Street View, including blurring faces and license plates. You can easily contact the Street View team if you see an image that should be protected or if you see a concerning image," stated the Google Maps' page on Privacy and Security. There is also a phrase for the removal of inappropriate images however no exact figures are available as to how many file such requests.
The mapping services, aside from facing privacy concerns within the United States, face opposition in other countries such as Germany where over 240,000 addresses were blurred out during its first few months.
