Story Published:
Jul 2, 2009 at 6:15 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Jul 3, 2009 at 1:03 AM CDT
SPRINGFIELD -- A little relief for parents; convenience for spouses; a lifeline for its owners -- cellular telephones give instant personal communication and help at your figuretips. But, with all that, Missouri is the only state to never approve funding for tracking the location of cellular 911 calls.
The lack of state money opens limitations as counties fund their own cellular 911 system.
In early June, an attempt for help was made from a cell phone in Cole Camp.
"Evidence linking Robert Blurton to the triple homicide is a 911 call," Sgt. Scott Meyer with the Missouri Highway Patrol said.
A common myth, thanks to cop dramas on TV, is you can call the police from a cell phone, leave the line open, and police can find you by tracking down your cell phone's signal. That's not exactly how it works.
"Several factors go into it," including who your carrier is and how old your phone is, said J.R. Webb of Springfield-Greene County's 911 Center.
Anothe factor is what Wireless Phase your local 911 center has.
Say you need help in some way but you're not sure where you are. You call 911 with a cell phone. In the Wireless Phase One program, local dispatch gets the cell phone tower that you're closest to, which isn't much help.
WIth Wireless Phase Two, dispatch gets the Global Positioning System location of your phone.
In the triple murder case in Cole Camp, Benton County 911 has Wireless Phase One technology. When the call for help was made in June, an address was not available without time-consuming research.
At Springfield-Greene County 911, dispatchers have been using the WIreless Phase Two program for about three years.
"Many times we've had a disturbance," Webb said, "the line remains open and we hear the disturbance. We get the address, and we've found folks there."
In Christian County, a new 911 center is being created after voters approved a ballot measure in April. Phase Two technology will be programmed, which is something nice with so many traveling through, heading to Branson.
"We have many people out of state who're not familiar with where they are," said Christian County 911 board member Rance Duffy. "They're trying to discribe landmarks; it makes it longer to get emergency crews to them."
Emergency 911 centers have to buy software to translate the GPS coordinates onto a map. These county and city agencies also have to work with every cell phone carrier to make the service is available. Those are more expenses not provided at the state level.
It should be noted, there's no way to tell if having a Wireless Phase Two program in Benton County would have changed the outcome of the Cole Camp homicides on June 7.
If you'd like to see a map showing what type of cellular 911 coverage your county has, click here.
