Most of us rely on them to make a quick call, but in one local city cell phone calls cannot be track to an exact location.
So the Maumelle Police Department is hoping to purchase new software that will pinpoint all 911 calls.
72% of the calls answered at the Maumelle Police department are from a cell phone and with new software the department would be one step closer to better response time.
"Maumelle 911 where`s your emergency?" asks dispatcher Tanya Gotcher.
It may seem like a simple question, but during an emergency sometimes dispatchers never get a response.
If the call is from a land line that`s not a problem -- an address pops up on the screen.
But if the caller is on a cell phone, tracking their location can be tricky.
"Until we get this technology up and running full time, someone calls on a cell phone we don`t automatically know where they are," explains police chief, Sam Williams, "We have to use other means to find where they are."
If the funding for a new tracking system is approved by the city council dispatchers say this is a big step to better response time.
"If they call on cell phones we can actually find them. That makes us feel more adequate in our jobs because you feel really helpless and they can`t speak to you and you have no way of finding them," adds Gotcher.
Without the updated system it could take emergency crews 10 minutes to respond, but if approved the new technology can locate a caller in less than 2 minutes.
"If you are injured and have a life threatening injury the 8 minute difference means living or dying," explains Gotcher.
So as more and more people are relying on their mobile phones dispatchers are relying on a new tracking system to help folks in distress.
"It will actually show us on this map within a radius where they`ll be and so if they can`t talk we can find them," says Williams.
And some people are looking forward to the extra help.
"That would be great. You know my grandma, someone like that, that uses only that. It`d be helpful to know exactly where they were - it would be good thing to have around," says Maumelle resident, Joshua Strause.
Dispatchers should know if they money was approved for this program by the end of the month.
Replacing the computer system will cost the city $60,000.
