From USA Today:
"Missouri to be eighth state to enact Kelsey's Law"
"Missouri to be eighth state to enact Kelsey's Law"
Missouri will become the eighth state Tuesday to enact Kelsey's Law, which
requires cellphone carriers to provide law enforcement with a customer's
location information in an emergency. Named for Kansas teenager Kelsey Smith,
whose body was found four days after she was abducted on June 2, 2007, the law
is intended to ensure local police agencies quickly get what they need to find
people in danger. The law has been gaining ground steadily since the first
one took effect in Kansas in 2009. Nebraska, Minnesota and New
Hampshire enacted laws in 2010, followed by North Dakota in 2011 and Hawaii
and Tennessee earlier this year. A similar bill is in the works in Illinois. Although federal law allows cellphone companies to provide
location information to law enforcement in certain circumstances, Kelsey's Law
seeks to mandate it. Catherine Crump, staff attorney at the American Civil
Liberties Union in New York, agrees that the information should be made
available in emergencies. She compared the practice to an officer who hears a
woman screaming inside a home. The officer is allowed to kick the door in to
help her. Another provision in the law protects cellphone providers
from lawsuits, cutting down on potentially lengthy liability discussions among a
company's legal team — as was the case in Kelsey Smith's abduction, said Missey
Smith.
^ This should be mandated in every State as well as at the Federal level. It only makes sense that they have the information in an emergency. ^
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