On March 19, 2023, in Marshfield, Wisconsin, a distressing nine one one call was received from a female, urgently requesting an officer's assistance but refu...
The comedic timing on some of this video is impeccable.
Using the number she phoned the police from, they tracked the phone.
I’m not certain that a tower ping is as accurate as “apartment 1, 42 wallaby way, Sydney”, but it would probably get them close to 42 wallaby way, Sydney.
While officers were en-route, the billing address could have been found for that number for a more precise location.
Perhaps there were other indicators from the phone call.
Perhaps this wasn’t the first call to emergency services, so that number has previous callout addresses. One of which aligned with the tower ping.
Or perhaps there were enough officers in the area to check everything quickly, and we are only seeing the footage of the successful response.
Qualified services can get access to a phones position down to a 50m accuracy, depending on how much network infrastructure there is in the area. This doesn’t need any access/permission to/from the phone. It is done solely from the network infrastructure, and relies on the power/timing of signals to/from the phone. IE triangulation/trilateration.
The US treats this under the 4th amendment, however there are likely fast-paths for 911 call responses. Certainly, other countries waive similar privacy rights when there is an imminent threat to life.
Using the number she phoned the police from, they tracked the phone.
I’m not certain that a tower ping is as accurate as “apartment 1, 42 wallaby way, Sydney”, but it would probably get them close to 42 wallaby way, Sydney.
While officers were en-route, the billing address could have been found for that number for a more precise location.
Perhaps there were other indicators from the phone call.
Perhaps this wasn’t the first call to emergency services, so that number has previous callout addresses. One of which aligned with the tower ping.
Or perhaps there were enough officers in the area to check everything quickly, and we are only seeing the footage of the successful response.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_tracking
Qualified services can get access to a phones position down to a 50m accuracy, depending on how much network infrastructure there is in the area. This doesn’t need any access/permission to/from the phone. It is done solely from the network infrastructure, and relies on the power/timing of signals to/from the phone. IE triangulation/trilateration.
The US treats this under the 4th amendment, however there are likely fast-paths for 911 call responses. Certainly, other countries waive similar privacy rights when there is an imminent threat to life.