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This page is a framework
Quick reference: emergency phone location
General planning guidance. Requests to carriers must come from a law enforcement agency.
Have this ready:
- The emergency: why the person may be at risk of death or serious harm.
- Phone number and carrier: the number, and which carrier serves it (numbers can be ported, so check).
- Last contact: the time of the last call, text or app activity, and where the person was going.
- Case details: your agency, case number and a callback number for the carrier.
What may come back:
- Network location: an estimated position with an accuracy radius, which can range from meters to miles.
- Cell site and sector: the tower and direction the phone last used.
- Records: recent call and data activity, usually needing follow-up legal process.
Search planning:
- An area, not a point: treat each result as a search area sized to its accuracy.
- Combine it: weigh phone data with the last known point, terrain and the person's likely behavior.
- Get help reading it: tower and sector data are easy to misread; ask a trained analyst.
Mutual aid workflow
Requesting phone location here
Legal limits
- Emergencies only. Emergency requests are for real risk of death or serious physical harm.
- Follow-up process. Carriers may require a warrant, court order or written certification afterwards.
- Document it. Record who asked, why, and what was received.
Who does the work
- The agency: the law enforcement agency running the search makes and owns the request.
- Analysts: state crime labs, investigative bureaus and trained volunteers can help interpret results.
County resource density
State agencies and coordination
State police, investigative bureaus and where a request is opened
Local government air units
Sheriff and police digital analysis
Training and volunteer resources
Courses and volunteer analysts that support agencies
Federal and national resources
Federal agencies and national organizations
Nothing matches that search. Clear the filters or try a county name.
Program statistics
Recent deployments
Live news search
Opens a running news query for search and rescue activity in this state.
Open news searchCapability mix
Share of registered assets by discipline.
Governance and statutory authority
State mutual aid guidelines
The typing documents behind a request
These documents set out how phone location is requested and what analysts are qualified to do. Open a card for the summary and a link to the published source.
No state guideline documents are indexed yet for this state.
State statutes
Authority for search and rescue in this state
Federal frameworks
These apply in every state
Becoming a cell phone analyst
The path for investigators and SAR analysts
Capabilities and qualifications
| Capability | What the analyst does | Who provides it and the standard | Recurrency |
|---|
Training resources
National references for phone location in searches
Field toolkit and admin
Exigent requests, logs and coordination
Making an emergency carrier request
For law enforcement agencies.
- Confirm the risk of death or serious harm.
- Use the carrier's law enforcement line and form.
Logging and volunteer registration
Records that support after-action review, reimbursement and volunteer coverage:
- Request log recording each carrier request: time, phone number, carrier, who asked, the legal basis and what came back.
- Unit activity log for after-action reporting and reimbursement.
Federal law on emergency location
What carriers may share, and when a warrant is needed.
- 18 U.S.C. 2702 allows emergency disclosure.
- Carpenter (2018): warrants for historical records.