STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
Re: Wireless E911 Location Accuracy Requirements, PS Docket No. 07-114.
I want to start with two stories—two stories that illustrate why what the Commission is doing
today is so important.
First story.  The summer before last, Shanika Parker finished working the night shift at her job 
outside of Indianapolis.  She was on her way home when exhaustion got the better of her.  She dozed off 
behind the wheel.  The next thing Ms. Parker knew, her car was upside down—and quickly filling with 
water.
Ms. Parker acted fast.  She called 911 from her mobile phone.  But when the operator asked 
where she was, Ms. Parker could only answer: “I don’t know.  I don’t know.  Can you please help me?”
Using location information from her mobile phone, local police were able to trace the call.  Using 
their knowledge of the area, responding officers were able to figure out that her car slid into a pond next 
to an interstate on her way home.  When the officers arrived on the scene, they found her overturned car.  
Mud was oozing through the windows and doors.  Time was running out.
Fortunately, this story ends well.  But by the time the police pulled Ms. Parker out from the car 
she had only eight inches of air left.  Still, this story shows very clearly what first responders can do with 
the right tools—that is, with accurate location information.
Second story.  Mary Thomas suffered a stroke in New York.  Ms. Thomas knew something was 
wrong.  So she mustered up the strength to call 911.  But the stroke had taken its toll.  Her speech was 
slurred.  She was unable to tell the dispatcher where she was and what help she needed.
So the first responders turned to technology.  The tower information for Ms. Thomas’s mobile 
phone gave an address for the call.  But the address was wrong.  It turns out that on the Upper East Side 
of Manhattan, it can be easy to get lost.  Lots of buildings, lots of floors, lots of apartments stacked high 
in the sky.  In fact, first responders in New York followed several false leads trying to track the call.  All 
in all, they searched for eight hours before they found Ms. Thomas.  She died the next day.  
These stories illustrate very clearly what we all know intuitively.  When the unthinkable occurs 
you want first responders to find you—no matter where you are—indoors or out—and no matter what 
kind of phone you use to make that call.  
That is why what we do here today is so critical.  The number of wireless calls to 911 is 
skyrocketing.  In fact, more than 70 percent of 911 calls are now made from wireless phones.  That is 
more than 400,000 calls across the country every day.  This number is only going to grow.  Because 
today, for roughly 2 in 5 households, their wireless phone is their only phone.  
So the way we connect and call is changing.  But until today our policies providing first 
responders with information about where we are when we call 911 have been stranded in the calling 
practices of the last century.  They provide for location information for 911 calls made using wireline 
phones.  They provide for location information for 911 calls made outdoors using wireless phones.  But 
for calls made indoors using wireless phones your best bet would be to cross your fingers and hope and 
pray, because no location accuracy standards apply.  This gap is unacceptable.  It does not reflect the way 
we now reach out for help in our moment of greatest need.  
2Today, at long last, we take steps to fix this problem and close this gap.  For the first time, we 
bring indoor dispatchable location into our wireless location accuracy policies.  This is big—and it is 
bound to save lives.  Because, as Steve Souder from the Fairfax County Department of Public Safety 
Communications suggests, before a blue and red light flashes, before a whistle on the volunteer fire 
station blows, before a pager rings, or an air horn blares—the front line of public safety in the United 
States are the people who answer your 911 call.  When they have more information about where you are 
when you call, we are all safer.  He’s right—and his words illustrate the importance of that call made by 
Ms. Parker in Indiana, by Ms. Thomas in New York, and by hundreds of thousands of us each and every 
year.  
Our effort today has taken a lot of work and wrangling.  Thank you to the countless first 
responders and the authorities at the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International 
and National Emergency Number Association who helped us in this process. Your insights and assistance 
have been invaluable.  Thank you also to the Chairman for making this effort a priority and Admiral 
Simpson and the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau for pushing this issue forward.  
Finally, we owe a debt of gratitude to the bipartisan support this initiative has received from 
Capitol Hill.  Last year, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing
to bring focus to this problem.  Senator Schumer also pressed us to modernize our rules—and get this 
right.  In particular, he called for us to update our policies to give first responders the information they 
need to help us in our hour of need.  In addition, Congressman Upton and Congressman Pallone 
encouraged this agency to put a premium on dispatchable location—and get this done.  For their support 
and willingness to champion this important public safety matter, we are grateful.