LITTLE ROCK (KFSM)- The Arkansas Senate passed a bill Thursday (March 5) that would require companies to release the location of a cellphone when requested by police in emergencies.
House Bill 1315 was sponsored by Rep. Rebecca Petty, R-Rogers, and is named after Kelsey Smith, a teenager who was kidnapped from a Target parking lot and murdered in Kansas in 2007. Petty said investigators were able to find Smith’s body several days later after they got the location of her cellphone from the carrier. She said her legislation will make the process of getting that information faster.
Petty’s bill would require communications carriers to release the information to law enforcement when requested to respond to a call for emergency services or in an emergency situation that involves the risk of death or serious physical harm.
The bill was approved by the House last week and now heads to Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s desk for his signature.
Petty’s bill is modeled after measures that have already been approved in 17 other states.
