Found this in the April 20/06 edition of one of Toronto's newspapers,
i.e., the National Post.
"Pilot project to pinpoint 911 calls by cellphone
Safety problem worsened by users' sense of security
by Carly Weeks
A Toronto pilot project aims to fix a cellphone safety gap: Emergency
dispatchers have no way of knowing 911 callers' exact location.
When a person calls 911 in most of Canada, the dispatcher receives the
phone number as well as the location of the nearest cellphone tower.
But the closest tower could be several kilometres away.
'It could be five to 10 kilometres in diameter,' Telus spokesman Jim
Johannsson said. 'A lot of people can live in a residential area that
size.'
In the project, already underway, Bell Canada uses assisted global
positioning technology that lets emergency dispatchers pinpoint the
location of 911 callers between 50 to 150 metres.
About half of all 911 calls come from cellphones, according to the
Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.
'It's stressful for the caller and it's stressful for the call-taker,'
said Judy Broomfield, 911 co-ordinator for the Toronto Police Service.
'People assume they know where they are. We do not.'
If the caller can't speak or doesn't know exactly where he or she is,
sending help can be challenging. Despite these problems, slick
marketing campaigns have convinced most consumers that their cellphones
are a catch-all security device, Ms. Broomfield said.
'There's a lot of very successful marketing done by the wireless
carriers to talk about what a great safety device a cellphone can be in
an emergency, which is true in some cases but there are situations
where its a real struggle,' Ms. Broomfield said.
Emergency response workers say one of the problems is there are no
regulations or deadlines requiring companies to address the safety gaps
in 911 service.
'There's no other incentive for the wireless carriers to do this if
they don't want to,' says Ms. Broomfield, who is also co-chairwoman of
a national working group focusing on enhanced 911 service.
Mr. Johannsson said it will be at least a year before Telus can
introduce improved 911 technology that will give a caller's location to
an emergency dispatcher.
CanWest News' Service"
The End
Reg Curtis - VE9RWC
Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:21 CST
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