Picture this: a fifteen-year-old girl is tied down in the bed of her captor’s truck. She is able to wiggle a little bit, but not enough to free herself. Even if she could, there is nowhere for her to run. The girl is able to reach for her cell phone in her back pocket. The dilemma: calling anyone is not an option, for her captor would surely hear her. The only viable option is to text a friend or loved one who can call 911 on her behalf. This could work but why not cut out the middle man and allow her to text 911 directly? Time could be saved in the effort to rescue the victim.
Text messaging is revolutionizing the way individuals communicate with one another. While it is a hit among many in the country, emergency call centers have yet to jump on board. In all but one county nationwide, texting 911 is not allowed. In August, 2009, Black Hawk County, Iowa, implemented a pilot program to permit texting a call center instead of calling it. Why didn’t we think of this before?
Putting a price on someone’s life is hard, but the potential benefits of enabling texts to 911 will undoubtedly outweigh the costs.
Being able to get in touch with emergency dispatchers through text is a major perk for those who have sensory disabilities. Citizens with speech impediments or hearing impairments will no longer have to rely on others or on their Telecommunication Device for the Deaf machine to call an emergency center. In addition, texting can prove invaluable to individuals in remote areas where cell phone service is limited or unavailable. Yes, texts can still reach their destination even though a cell phone has no service. Finally, text messaging could be a matter of life or death for an individual in deep distress or in hiding who is simply unable to communicate verbally with a 911 dispatcher.
Despite its seemingly ingenious nature, the idea of texting 911 does have drawbacks, according to some. Having to discern text messages can provide some unwanted challenges. It could take precious time trying to figure out what today’s texting lingo means in the case of an emergency. Arguably, this cannot be any worse than having to figure out the broken language of a highly distraught caller. In addition, there is a concern about a delay in the time it takes for a text to reach an emergency call center and for the dispatcher to respond to the texting individual. This has to do with the indirect route text messages must take to get to a receiver, as compared to a more direct route of a cell phone or landline. Last but not least, much of the concern over allowing text messages to 911 services is logistically about funding. Money is always a challenge, especially in hard economic times such as these. If it will save lives, though, it is worth it.
In the end, text messaging 911 provides but another avenue for those in distress or in dire need of assistance to contact 911. Allowing for this advancement in technology may not create a perfect system, but what is perfect? The current system of permitting only phone calls is certainly not perfect as lives are lost due to an inability to call 911 in circumstances of violence and hostility, where the one in need is in a remote area, or in situations where the caller has a speech or hearing impediment. To those who are worried about the financing of such a system, the need will be inevitable. However, putting a price on someone’s life is a hard thing to do, and the potential benefits of permitting texts to 911 will undoubtedly outweigh the costs of incorporating this new method.
Comments
Rave Guardian - for UNC students
http://www.unc.edu/uncmobile/index.php/guardian
Rave Guardian is like a mobile blue light that you control.
When you travel to a new location you call a toll free number, enter the length of time anticipated to reach your destination and leave a voice message with additional information. If the timer expires and you have not deactivated Rave Guardian, campus police receive an alert on their communications center console. Your profile and the recorded message can then be accessed by the police to obtain additional information to assist in their response. With certain carriers*, Rave Guardian can even pinpoint and map the location of the phone from the network.
Another Rave Guardian safety feature allows you to "panic call" campus police and have the same information immediately available to the police to use to respond.
Unlike older versions, Rave Guardian does not require you to have a data plan to start the Guardian timer or to send your information to campus police.
Your private data is stored securely and is available only to police and first responders when an urgent situation arises. Unless an alert is triggered, campus police can not track you via Guardian and the your information is not transmitted and is discarded from the system.
Triangulation
This is an excellent idea, however, there will need to be some additional improvements made. If a user in an emergency situation texts the police, they will have limited data in most situations... especially regarding the location of the user.
Currently, with the assistance of phone companies, it is possible to triangulate a phone's position using the strength of the cell phone signal in comparison with cell phone towers in range. Although, you need three towers in order to accurately pinpoint a user's location.
There are also other programs that allow the tracking of a cell phone such as AccuTracking. Mologogo is a free GPS-based service to help keep track of your phone. Verizon's Chaperone is another. TechCrunch has an interesting article with video on how GoogleMaps is using triangulation to locate a user sans GPS with decent accuracy.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/28/google-mobile-maps-pinpoints-your-l...
Perhaps the next step would be to merge these two technologies, texting 911 and GPS/triangulation (a phone being able to transmit its location). Although, I could certainly see some privacy issues arising. One possible problem is others obtaining this information without your permission. However, it would appear that law enforcement agencies would be able to obtain permission to access this information when people are missing. Another possibility would be activating the mic on the phone in order to determine what the emergency situation is. Especially in instances where triangulation isn't possible. The courts approved this measure some years ago for the FBI.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-150467.html
Perhaps a solution would be an application that only transmits your location (and continuously transmits) when you text 911? It's a tough decision but hopefully we can come up with a solution that integrates this ability without sacrificing civil liberties.
For a little more information on cell phone tracking issues visit: http://www.eff.org/issues/cell-tracking
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