Good point. Did not think about the legal issues. However, I would think those 911 places should have the very advance technology so they should ask the 'relevant' phone operator to trace a number.
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Puzzle - How dispatcher saved the day
Hey guys,
So I would like to share this puzzle with you and the answers. The reason is I disagree with another answer. It has to do with a technology to I want to see your opinion. Here it goes:
An old guy is driving home. It's late at night. He's be-bopping along the highway and he's some considerable distance from home. Suddenly, he feels himself having a heart attack. He says, "Oh my God. It's the big one." Thinking quickly, he takes the first available exit.
As luck would have it, he winds up in a residential neighborhood. It's very late at night. He pulls over to the side of the road behind some parked cars. He's fading fast, but he has the presence of mind to pull out his cell phone and call 911.
He says to the dispatcher, "I need help. I'm having a heart attack."
And she says, "Where are you?"
And the conversation goes something like this: "I don't know where I am."
"What exit did you take?"
"I don't remember."
"Were you going north or south or east?"
"I don't remember."
"Can you tell me what street you're on?"
"I'm in the middle of the block. I'm parked. I didn't see any street signs." She says,
Not quite. She says, "Start blowing the horn. Someone will come out of the house."
No one comes out. She then asks him to do one more thing. Minutes later, an ambulance is on its way there and saves his life.
What did she ask him to do?
==========================
My answer:
She asked him for the cell phone number or just looked at the called ID. 911 system should have a called ID that determines the cell phone carrier (ATT for instance). Then 911 dispatcher should have contacted ATT to trace/locate the cell location.
==========================
Winning answer:
Now this isn't 100% guaranteed that it's going to work, but it's the only thing that would work. What she asked him to do was to give her the license plate number of the car that he's parked behind.
She was figuring that the owner of the car lives right there.
Sure. It's a residential neighborhood, and it's late at night.
==========================
What do you guys think? Don't you think the emergency 911 system should be more technologicaly advanced than that?
Cheers!!
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Answers
in US all modern cellphones have 2 settings for the GPS function wether it uses an integrated gps receiver or calculates location using cell tower triangulation. If you check you will see 911 only or Location. The default is 911 which allows all US 911 call centers to find where the cell phone is once you have called 911. The location setting is used by applications for maps and directions like normal gps for the user. Once you call they already have the phone number and name via caller ID and they have the right to come to your door even if that's somewhere outside (since it's a cell phone). They can't check the location logs or or current location with out a court order unless you call 911 this creates probable cause and allows the police to look up active data. Again logs and ongoing monitoring requires a warrant at the local level. Federal has much broader powers since the patriot act. To be honest I'm not sure where their power ends considering they can lock a citizen up for 3 days with out a charge before having to allow the person to contact a lawyer and if a judge agrees they are a threat to national security this detention can last indefinately as does the restriction on communication with anyone.
I agree that technologically speaking, the 911 operator should be able to go through the proper channels to get the driver's location and send an ambulance. But, the puzzle specifically states that she asks the driver to do one more thing. If she is able to pinpoint his location, then she doesn't need to ask him to do anything (except maybe to stay put, but that's an unnecessary command for a person suffering a heart attack).
So, the puzzle wording implies that it was this one thing that she asked him to do which saved his life. Therefore, the puzzle assumes that pinpointing the driver's location is not feasible for whatever reason (emerging tech, bureaucracy, etc.).
I'd say that you did answer the question, but you did not answer it within the confines of the puzzle. It is similar to the barometer problem. There are several things in this scenario that could have been applied, but the license plate answer is the most logical answer given the circumstances, which includes a circumstance where the 911 operator is incapable of identifying his location.
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by: angelIIIPosted on 2009-10-18 at 22:07:26ID: 25602703
in my country, I could explain the difference:
* to get the location from a cell phone, a judge must sign the order so the police can officially ask the (relevant) phone operator to get that information. so, you also first need to find the relevant phone operator, which is, in my country, rather simple, there are only 3. in some countries, there are many more than that...
* to get the address of the owner of a car plate is much less trouble: just calling the relevant organization, and you have it. no police/judge required there. much faster.