New law in Saarland: Emergency call 110 with automatic location transmission!

New law in Saarland: Emergency call 110 with automatic location transmission!

An important innovation is coming to the emergency call system in Saarland: in the future, when calls are made to the emergency number 110, the location data of the caller will be automatically transmitted. The aim of this is to be able to provide the police with quicker and more targeted help in emergency situations, especially if those affected cannot provide their exact location. The SPD parliamentary group's bill will be introduced in the state parliament in Saarbrücken on Monday and could have far-reaching effects on the safety of citizens. n-tv reports that the location data should only be stored in anonymized form for 60 minutes and should only be used to avert danger.

The SPD has sole government in Saarland and an absolute majority in the state parliament, which increases the prospect of the law being passed. Even the opposition CDU has signaled that it supports the project. Anja Wagner-Scheid, the leader of the CDU, emphasized the SPD's willingness to cooperate and sees the change in the law as positive for the security of people in the country.

Targeted help through location transmission

The initiative in Saarland is a follow-up to a pilot project already underway in other parts of Germany, which aims to better provide the emergency number 110 with location data. Loud netzpolitik.org This is exactly what is crucial for quick help, because callers are often unable to provide precise information about their location. As part of an EU-wide directive, automated location determination is also required for emergency calls in other member states, which has not yet been implemented in Germany for the police emergency number 110.

However, thanks to the introduction of Advanced Mobile Location (AML) technology, tracking is now significantly improved. This technology enables location determination to within a few meters, whereas the previous method often resulted in inaccurate information. The manufacturers of both major smartphone platforms, Android and Apple, have already taken measures to ensure that location sharing for emergency calls is enabled by default.

Technological and data protection aspects

The new system is expected to significantly reduce emergency response times. A current analysis shows that modern technologies can reduce the average location time from two minutes to less than 30 seconds. According to assessments of the Data protection officer Data protection aspects also play an important role here. The location data should only be used for assistance efforts and should be deleted after one hour.

For many countries in Europe, using the emergency number 112 is already a given, with the emergency hotline aiming to determine your location precisely. This has not previously been the case for Germany - now the pilot projects in federal states such as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg show that we are moving towards advanced emergency call systems. The new models could also be used in missing person searches and major events and thus contribute to the safety of everyone.

In summary, the integration of automatic location reporting for emergency calls represents a major step towards more effective emergency response. The support of the political majority in Saarland and the technical advances offer hope that the security of citizens will be sustainably improved.