Will the police come if you fail to give the address?

Question

If someone was attacking me and I was just able to dial 911 -- call connected but I couldn't give the location/address, would they come? I am assuming they can trace my location, especially if it's dialled from the mobile phone, but would they trace the call and check?

Thanks.

Answer 1

They could trace the call within seconds. So yeah.

Answer 2

I'm not sure about a mobile phone because I don't know how quickly the information is available. In fact, I don't know if they can triangulate to an area any smaller than a few square miles. However, if you call on a land line, they will almost always visit the address for the phone number. I know this because there are two pay phones where I work, and every now and then we'll have an officer come by because of a 911 hangup.

Answer 3

Yes, from a house phone.

From a mobile phone, we can only get the last cell tower the call came through. If there was no urgency or exigency in the call that came through, at most we would drive around a little bit as we can't cover every inch of a cell tower's range.

It ain't CSI out there.

Answer 4

Land line, yes. Cell phones are more difficult. The technology has been around for a long time, but there are still many police departments who don't have the equipment to do it. On older cell phones, they can't get the location with enough precision to find you.

Answer 5

Ya as they go a more improvised caller Id that shows the name, address and history of the caller, it's the same in some countries for mobiles which ca be traced if stolen.

Answer 6

Yes, in fact if you hang up on 911 they normally call you back, or at least try to if it busy, then I believe they are required to send someone to your location busy or not and even if you tell them your ok they will ask your name and some other security question before they "cancel" the call, beware if it is a prank you will pay a fine

Answer 7

my sister when about 10 called 911 by mistake, she meant to dial 411. Anyhow as soon as she heard them answer the phone, she hung up. The police showed up fairly quickly

Answer 8

Landline phones are always traceable. Cell phones are supposed to be as well, but sometimes they can only locate it to the nearest 1/8 mile or so, and then they just drive around until they hear noise or observe trouble.

Answer 9

Wrong - If it is a hard wire - we know where you are
and our department rushes a deputy there for an
"unconfirmed emergency"

but a mobile phone - HA - the older phones do not have GPS capability - and all I know is the tower you are using - that narrows it down to 100 square miles

remember the meth addict who froze to death with his girlfriend?? that commercial really gets played

the newer phones, I can get within 100 feet of you

so- - - - - -best -------- hard wire - even if it is a payphone

Merry Christmas ( I'll be putting my 12 in)

and YES - we try to call the number back - standard procedure

Answer 10

911 operators would try to call back, but an officer would be dispatched as a "911 hang-up" call. The dispatcher would tell the responding officer what the operators heard and what she/he believes is going on.