A revolutionary approach to emergency services is being tested in North Texas, where 911 callers can opt to share their phone cameras with dispatch.
The initiative was launched by the North Texas Emergency Communications Center (NTECC), a dispatch hub handling 911 calls for Carrollton, Addison, Coppell, and Farmers Branch.
In a press release from the City of Carrollton, Terry Goswick, NTECC’s executive director, called the new Prepared 911 program “a game changer.”
“This feature will allow first responders the ability to see, first-hand, what is going on at the scene of the incident and allow the professionals to relay accurate information. … One of the greatest things about this new feature is that it is purely voluntary on the caller’s behalf and they do not need to download any app to use this,” Goswick said.
When fielding a call, the dispatcher will send a link to the caller’s phone that will enable them to share a live video feed. This will help the dispatcher better understand how to deploy first responders to the scene of an emergency.
“This program allows us the ability to see the situation and determine what assets are needed to help resolve it faster,” Rex Redden, Carrollton’s executive director of public safety, according to the press release.
“Instead of having to wait for a responder to arrive, then request additional resources, we will know sooner and can deliver those resources faster,” Redden added. “It better informs us so that we can help our citizens more quickly, which is a win for everyone.”
The feed lasts only as long as the 911 call, meaning the dispatcher’s access to a caller’s phone is cut once they hang up.
The new software has already been rolled out at several police stations across the country this past year.
The feature has been hailed by dispatchers as allowing them to better respond to cases in which a caller doesn’t know where they are or needs to be talked through performing CPR on another individual having a medical emergency.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, police response times in Dallas have increased significantly over the last few months.
Service calls to the police are given a priority designation (P1-4) based on the seriousness of a call, with P1 calls signifying the most extreme emergencies and P4 calls representing “non-critical” incidents.
The running average response times for calls fell woefully short of the goals as of August 31, according to the City of Dallas Open Data police response time dashboard.
P1 calls took about 11.2 minutes for officers to respond, P2 calls took 107.1 minutes, P3 calls took 626.8 minutes, and P4 calls took 660.7 minutes.
An ongoing staffing shortage at the Dallas Police Department continues to strain public safety resources. According to a City report, Dallas needs about three officers for every 1,000 residents, putting an effective staffing level at around 4,000 officers. Yet the DPD has only a force of roughly 3,100 sworn personnel.