Toulouse turns to 'pooper-snoopers'

Satellites are the latest weapon in Toulouse’s war on dogs.

The city is turning to technology to shake off its unkempt image. Police and council staff are to be issued with hand-held computers not only to record the GPS co-ordinates of offending dog mess and give directions to street cleaners, but also to send them a photo.

The 300 public workers will also be able to record the location of parking offences, graffiti and rubbish and alert the appropriate city department.

City cleaners have 24 hours to respond once alerted.

The experiment, which the Toulouse authority says is the first of its kind, will begin next year.

A spokesman for the mairie said that, while Toulouse’s unkempt image was exaggerated, "one could not say it's a town on top of its dirt problem".