So you like your cell phone. You’ve had it for years. You know how it works and you are comfortable with it’s features. That’s great but if it doesn’t have the latest cell phone tracking technology, then you may want to consider a new phone.
A recent call to the Catawba County 911Center illustrates the point. The telecommunicator that received the call did not get a response when he asked what the emergency was. There was just silence. After repeatly asking and trying to get a response, silence. Finally, a faint moan, “Help me”. No address, no identification, no information. Where is the caller? Fortunately, the call was from a cell phone, a new cell phone and with the new technology the telecommunicator was able to locate the position within a matter of feet. EMS, fire and rescue were dispatched to the location where a lady was found in a car having a seizure. Another few minutes and she would have died.
Older cell phone technology does not provide for this kind of accuracy in locating the caller. It locates based on tower location and that can cover a large area. So even if you really like that old phone, you may want to consider retiring it for newer technology, it could save your life.
For more information about the technology used in your cell phone, contact your provider and ask about how they can locate callers and how accurate your phone tracks your location. Also ask them what information is sent to the 911 Center in case of an emergency. Below you will find another story about a cell phone saving a person’s life.
NC Woman saved by 911 call from car trunk
KERNERSVILLE, N.C. - A North Carolina woman who was kidnapped at gunpoint and forced into the trunk of a stolen car has been found safe, thanks to the GPS tracking of her cell phone.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported the Kernersville woman was kidnapped early Wednesday by two men in a residential area.
Forsyth County sheriff’s Maj. Brad Stanley said the woman called 911 from the trunk, which allowed authorities to use GPS data from the call to track the general location of the car.
Without that call, Stanley said authorities would have had no information to go on in the search.
A Kernersville police officer tried to pull the car over, but the driver sped away. The car was later found crashed in a driveway in Kernersville. The suspects had fled, the woman was found unhurt in the trunk. Her name hasn’t been released. Information from: Winston-Salem Journal, http://www.journalnow.com
