I have some family who are dispatchers (not in the US), and they have the ability to immediately get location data directly from providers if they think somebody is in imminent danger. They can’t do it to track a suspect (not without a warrant), but they would regularly do it for suspected suicides, or when a caller communicated they were in danger but failed to give their location for what ever reason.
I wouldn’t be surprised if many jurisdictions around the world had similar systems.
In the cases I’m familiar with it was often used for other people calling in suspected suicide attempts (or other types of self harm, or drug overdoses, ect…)
I am a reporter who covers crime. Your account is 100% accurate. Federal law allows for the disclosure of customer records “to a governmental entity, if the provider, in good faith, believes that an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure without delay of information relating to the emergency.” 5 U.S.C § 2703(c).
I wouldn’t be surprised if many jurisdictions around the world had similar systems.