The Philadelphia Police Department admitted that a surveillance vehicle was patrolling the streets disguised as a Google Street View car.
It is an SUV that has two cameras on its roof with an advanced license plate recognition (ALPR) system, capable of reading thousands of numbers per minute.
The vehicle prominently displayed Google Maps logos on its left and right sides, in a somewhat simplistic attempt to disguise itself as part of the company's Street View fleet, which is used to collect images on the road for use by the mapping service.
At first glance, seeing a vehicle with two cameras on its roof and Google logos, one could easily assume that it was indeed a Google Street View. But for those familiar with the design of Google's mapping cars, they know that these are almost entirely covered in the company's markings and feature a much larger camera system mounted much higher up on the roof.
The result of all this was that the fake Philadelphia police vehicle was immediately recognized as a fake. The police chief, after the uproar, admitted that it belonged to their department, that no competent department had approved the placement of the logos on the vehicle, and that he ordered the stickers to be removed immediately.
Google spokeswoman Susan Cadrecha confirmed that the vehicle in question is not one of theirs and said the company is investigating the unauthorized use of its logo and the company's legal rights.
