If someone wants to kill you, chances are they will be able to, given enough time and venom. It is naive to think that any tool, least of all, a four-inch wireless phone, can stand up against the evil that exists in some people. If only life were so simple.
Nevertheless, the government has realized the value of wireless services during emergencies and mandated that emergency 911 service be extended to wireless systems in an effort to help people by tracking their 911 phone calls to pinpoint their location, whether they are lost in a snow storm or trying to outrun a crazed ex-boyfriend.
AP|reports noted that friends and family of Candace Wertz said the woman endured five years of abuse from the former boyfriend accused of using his car to push hers in front of a freight train, killing her, her 2-year-old son, and another woman and her 2-year-old daughter.
Wertz used her mobile phone to dial a 911 operator for help. The area is one of the few in this country that has implemented the first phase of E911 service, so the 911 operator could track Wertz’s call. (Phase I service requires carriers to provide public safety answering points with call-back and cell-site information when 911 is dialed.)
Despite having Phase 1 service in place in this small Pennsylvania town, four people died.
If location positioning technology had been in place, perhaps dispatchers could have directed law enforcement officers to Wertz, avoiding the whole nightmare before she even drove to the train tracks.
Perhaps. We’ll never know.
The second phase of E911 service-which has various implementation dates-requires wireless carriers to provide PSAPs with more accurate automatic location information.
Industry seems excited about the possibility of using location technology to direct people to the nearest malls, pizza joints and gas stations-and getting revenue from retailers that want wireless customers directed to their malls, pizza joints and gas stations.
Location technology has a chance to be a win-win situation for wireless carriers. But so far, most, if not all, of the deadlines surrounding the implementation of E911 service have been delayed.
By October, carriers must decide if they will use network-based or handset-based E911 solutions.
Take this deadline seriously, industry.
It may be a matter of life and death.
