State board approves proposal for emergency cell phone tracing technology
By Associated Press, 12/10/2003 21:37
READING, Mass. (AP) Massachusetts emergency officials have approved an equipment upgrade that will allow dispatchers to pinpoint the location of emergency cell phone calls.
At a meeting on Wednesday, the Massachusetts Statewide Emergency Communications Board accepted a request for proposals from Verizon to install the mapping equipment needed to track emergency cell phone calls to their source.
The board's executive director, Paul Fahey, said the proposal, which includes equipment and technical support, is worth an estimated $12 million. The exact amount of the contract will be negotiated, he said.
The board also voted to ask cell phone carriers to provide ''phase two'' call data starting on July 1. That data, which will be relayed to local emergency responders, will provide the longitude and latitude of the caller's actual location.
At present the data, which is received by state police dispatchers in Middleboro, Framingham and Northampton, includes a callback number and the nearest cellular phone tower. It is less precise, and can result in delays when the caller does not know his or her exact location.
The new system, which should be completed by a federal deadline in late 2005, would be able to locate callers within 160 feet to 500 feet.
Some other states are ahead of Massachusetts in installing the tracking system. Rhode Island already can trace cell phone 911 calls. New Hampshire began installing the system last month.
