911 Phase II

The most recent tragedy that I have found happened January of 2003. Four boys drown when the rowboat that they were in sunk in frigid 33-degree waters of the Long Island Sound, just off the coast of New York City. The boys'; 12-second 911 call came through at 9:58 p.m. on Friday and begins: "We're on the Long Island Sound in a boat off the coast of the City, We're gonna die." The dispatcher entered the boys' call into a log and alerted her supervisor, but did not have enough specific information to enter the report into the police departments system, and did not notify the Harbor unit of what little information they had. The nearest boat or helicopter could have arrived in about 20 minutes. Department Officials said the boys might have died by then, but a U.S. Coast Guard official, Petty Officer Michelle Krupa, said the teens could have survived at least 30 minutes, and perhaps as long as two hours. Nearly a week after the boys' frantic call, the Coast Guard on Thursday called off the search because it was unlikely the teens would still be alive. The NYPD was continuing the search.
New York City's 911- system doesn't include technology that will allow dispatchers to pin point the origin of cell phone calls, as is the case for most cities. This technology is known as Emergency 911 Phase II, and would allow 911 operators to trace the location of an emergency call from a cell phone. Phase II coupled with improvements to state and county 911 Call Centers, is not required by Federal Regulators until 2005, but is available already in some parts of the country. Phase II can only work when local authorities, traditional phone companies, cell phone companies, and Federal regulators synchronize their efforts to produce a cohesive network.
With this conclusion I urge each and every one of you to sign my petition and have Emergency 911 Phase II made mandatory. By signing this petition, we the public can speak out for the lives that have been lost. Without us they have no voice. The FCC needs to put an end to the fighting. There is no reason people should die senselessly when the technology is already there. Money should not be an issue when a life is concerned.