Revolution in the number 112. When you call, you will be immediately found by the services

112, the uniform pan-European emergency number, was introduced in 1991 thanks to an EU directive. It has been operating in Poland since September 2005. Everything indicates that we will see another revolution related to the number 112 this year.

The government and UKE are working on AML. The caller will be automatically located

The Ministry of Digitization, in cooperation with the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE), has started work on launching the Advanced Mobile Location (AML) service in Poland. It involves locating the person calling emergency numbers.

How does AML work? When a person in need of help calls the emergency number (it can be 112, but the function will also work for numbers such as 997, 998 or 999), the AML function activates automatically and sends information about the exact location of the mobile phone to the emergency services we call. .

Thanks to this, rescuers can quickly reach the scene of the incident, even if the caller is unable to provide the exact location or does not know the area in which he or she is located. The sent location data is very precise, locating the device up to 5 meters outdoors and on average 25 meters indoors.

– explains the Ministry of Digital Affairs.

The main goal of implementing Advanced Mobile Location is to shorten the response time of emergency services such as the police, fire brigade and ambulance. This, in turn, will enable faster provision of medical assistance, organization of a rescue operation or arrest of the perpetrator of a crime.

According to European Commission estimates, the implementation of AML technology results in a reduction in the response time of emergency services by approximately 30 seconds on average. On the scale of the EU population, such a shortened intervention time can save 800 people a year in the EU, and on average 67 people in Poland.

AML already operates in most EU countries, including: in Germany, France, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Great Britain.

What about our privacy?

A feature that automatically locates a mobile phone user obviously raises some privacy concerns. However, as the Ministry of Digital Affairs emphasizes, AML is “fully safe for end users and does not interfere with existing privacy rules.”

Location data is made available only during a voice call (several times during the call) and only when calling the emergency number 112 and three-digit numbers 9XY, e.g.

– explains the ministry. AML is also to ensure full protection of personal data, and location data will be covered by telecommunications secrecy.

It is also worth reminding people who fear an attack on their privacy that even today, before the implementation of AML, the relevant services still have tools that allow them to locate a selected mobile phone user.