Cell Phone Lookup: Even More Helpful if They are Running, Not Missing

Cell phones can be 'pinged' on cell networks to trace a phone's - and consequently its owner's - location. No wonder this information is kept confidential: it could easily be used to harm a subscriber. Yet, in certain cases, exceptions must be made. For example, the Governor of Kansas has just signed a bill ordering cell phone companies to promptly cooperate with police in emergency situations. The law becomes effective on July 1, 2009 and requires cell phone companies to release caller account and location information immediately upon request. This decision was prompted by the 2007 kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith. Had Kelsey's cell phone provider cooperated with the police in a timely manner, she could be alive today.

That's in Kansas, where they've been burned. Yet, this issue still arouses a lot of controversy nationwide. The situation is very precarious because the highly sensitive information can potentially be used to harm, not help the subscriber, and the cell phone company's first responsibility is to the customer. What if the police are trying to get the subscriber in trouble, not save a missing person? Does the cell phone company have to cooperate then, too, or be charged with obstruction of justice and aiding a fugitive?

Even before police can locate a cell phone via this method, they must find out the missing (or wanted) person's phone number. What if there were no concerned parents to hand the number to the police, and they live in a state where the cell phone company isn't compelled to cooperate with them by law? That's when the good old cell phone lookup can make or break the case.

A cell phone lookup can make a big difference in the investigators' progress if no one is cooperating. To begin with, if they don't even know the suspect's phone number, they can't monitor its cell network activity. Once they find out the phone number via a cell phone lookup though, not only can they then monitor the phone's every move, they can pinpoint the fugitive's exact original location - the home address - and not just chase around town, but lie in wait at the home location as well. Granted, lately other locales are reconsidering the cell phone providers' working relationship with police, but while the jury is still out, cell phone lookup will continue saving lives.