KELSEY SMITH was kidnapped, raped and murdered two years ago. The new Kansas law that bears her name probably would not have saved her life if it had been in effect in 2007, but it might have saved her family days of uncertainty — days of not knowing whether their daughter was still alive.
When Smith was kidnapped from a parking lot in Overland Park, one of the first things police did was ask the company that provided her cell-phone service to locate her phone. For more than three days, the company refused to provide the information. On the fourth day, the company relented and provided the information that led searchers to a wooded area in Missouri, where Smith’s body was found.
The new law, which was signed by the governor this week, requires cell phone companies to immediately supply information to police in emergency situations. The law can be used not only in criminal investigations, but also to help find accident victims and people who are lost.
Nationally, some cell-phone service providers have already adopted policies to provide location information to police in emergencies, but other companies don’t want to make the change without a law to protect them from liability for releasing private information.
Kelsey’s parents hope to get other states to pass similar laws. But, even with a lot of help, the process of getting laws passed in 49 states could take a long time.
It seems as though it would be much quicker just to get Congress to pass one national law that imposes the requirements of Kelsey’s Law on all cell phone companies in all the states and territories.
Congress, after all, had no problem last year letting phone companies off the hook for their cooperation with an apparently illegal federal wiretapping program. Surely the lawmakers would have no trouble telling the companies to cooperate with police when a life is clearly at stake.
Kelsey’s Law is a common-sense law. Applying it to the whole nation at once is just more common sense.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor