May 24, 2013
News
911 Tracks Cell Phone Calls
By KGNS News
It's no secret technology holds a huge place in peoples' lives now a days. Most people don't have home phones anymore. Just cell phones. So the fact that 911 operators can locate calls placed from cell phones has become very important.
"This was actually a necessity more than some sort of extra luxury for 911 responders."
But not all phones are able to be tracked.
"The more prevalent to have the issue with not being compliant are the pay as you go phones."
For those emergency calls that come in, the computers in the 911 call area trace the call as soon as they come in and show the operators where that person is calling from on the map.
"In case the person is unable to give the exact location right where they need help."
Baeza says a lot of times when a call comes in, the person is disoriented or cannot tell the operator where they are. He recalls a time when a man called 911 who woke up on a float in the middle of Lake Casa Blanca.
"They were able to use the same technology to find his location in the middle of the lake and get first responders out to him so he could go back to shore."
Another time this tracking comes in handy is when people prank call 911.
"They're playing pranks. They think they're on a cell phone that the officers won't be able to find them but there's very little hiding from them."
