yes they can. I worked on a few different hot lines. Hot lines have three different programs for locating people -

an automatic reporting system for reporting to the phone company and the police crank calls for investigation

Caller Identification

and a tracking device - the same that police, fire, and so on use for finding those that call in an emergency but then pass out or are otherwise unable to tell their whereabouts due to age or injury and so on.

How this all works is the phone call comes it. the worker looks at the caller ID and writes down the phone number.

then At the moment that the worker picks up the phone recording devices start recording (ever see Rescue 911 or other shows that play a recording of 911 calls) well same thing.

The tape starts recording, the computer starts tracing the call through the phone lines and cellular radio waves type towers.

Within 1-3 minutes the location of where the call is being made from is up on the computer screen.

then the worker has a variety of switch board buttons - police, ambulance, phone company, electric company and so on, so that they can forward those agencies the location. that way while they have the person on the phone these other agencys like police and ambulance are being dispatched from the callers nearest police and fire stations.

When you hear in the news and read in the newpapers about this person and that person being arrested for falsifying reports this is how they caught them because making false reports of suicide and so on is illegal.