Bolivar Lawmaker Working to Allow Easier Tracking of Cell Phones
By: Missouri News Horizon
Updated: April 25, 2012
(Jefferson City, MO) -- A man using a cell phone to taunt his ex-wife while kidnapping the couple's child yesterday could have been located faster if police could have used the cell phone's signal to pinpoint his location. That's what would happen under a bill working its way through the state legislature.
It would allow law enforcement to find the location of cell phones without having to jump through current legal hoops.
State Senator Mike Parson of Bolivar handles the bill in the Senate. He says it allows police to quickly begin finding someone they're looking for.
"You have a missing person, an abducted, or involved unfortunately in a homicide, they would be able to track their phones, their cell phones, to a location where they're at," Parson says.
Currently in Missouri, cell phone companies are not allowed to give out tracking information for their customers without special clearance. The bill would allow the information to be released to police in emergency circumstances.
"There's been many times that is could be the difference between saving someone's life and not. And I think it's a very reasonable bill, and I truly believe, down the road, it will save somebody's life," Parson says.
The kidnapping incident began Tuesday in a St. Louis hospital and ended in a Chicago suburb.
It would allow law enforcement to find the location of cell phones without having to jump through current legal hoops.
State Senator Mike Parson of Bolivar handles the bill in the Senate. He says it allows police to quickly begin finding someone they're looking for.
"You have a missing person, an abducted, or involved unfortunately in a homicide, they would be able to track their phones, their cell phones, to a location where they're at," Parson says.
Currently in Missouri, cell phone companies are not allowed to give out tracking information for their customers without special clearance. The bill would allow the information to be released to police in emergency circumstances.
"There's been many times that is could be the difference between saving someone's life and not. And I think it's a very reasonable bill, and I truly believe, down the road, it will save somebody's life," Parson says.
The kidnapping incident began Tuesday in a St. Louis hospital and ended in a Chicago suburb.
