Government Technology - August 2007 - (Page 44)

justice organization and the standard folks are looking at.” Other jurisdictions are also looking into such a deployment. Indiana call centers have tested the concept with sent text messages, but are still in the research mode. In Tennessee, some call centers can receive digital photos, but they must first go to an IT person’s e-mail address before they are sent to the 911 call center. Right now, that’s about as close as it gets to such a system. “The current plan is you call 911 and say you have a photo of a criminal or a crash or whatever it is, and they say, ‘OK, text message it to this address,’” Halley said. “Then you do it and call back. That’s not ideal, but it’s definitely a positive step to getting us to where we need to be.” “It’s a positive step forward toward the next generation of 911 systems.” Patrick Halley, government affairs director, National Emergency Number Association When deployed, the system will work like this: A 911 call comes into a PSAP, and the caller describes the problem and reports that he or she can send a photo to the PSAP. The PSAP call handler will send a text message to the caller’s cell phone — while the caller is still on the line — requesting the photo. The caller replies to the message with the photo attached. The photo is then stored and can be sent to first responders as they head to the scene. “We’re designing our software to get photos to the 911 center and then allow them to route it where they think it needs to go, kind of like the phone company,” Sheehan said. Safeguarding from Pranksters One difficulty will be ensuring legitimate callers can transmit vital data without delay, while making sure the data is actually useful Texting 911 in Boston and L.A. A surge in violent crimes and a street culture becoming more distant from law enforcement has moved Boston to allow witnesses of crimes to send anonymous text messages to report information about crimes. Police are hoping the Text a Tip program will prompt more response from witnesses who are typically afraid to call and report information to police in a street culture that punishes people who “snitch.” An informant can type the word “tip” onto his phone and send the message to police. The system will block the sender’s identiﬁcation. Police will then text a message back to the sender asking for details. The Los Angeles Police Department announced in June that it was beginning plans to develop a system that will eventually accept digital photos, text messages and video with 911 calls. Ofﬁcials said that the ﬁrst phase of the system, soliciting digital photos, could be up and running in late 2007 but that the project would take three years or more to complete. Software on the Way? The improved version of the PowerPhone system, called Incident Linked Multimedia (ILM), is slated for preview at the August 2007 APCO conference, according to Greg Sheehan, director of marketing for PowerPhone. “What we’ve done to our first iteration of the technology is made some modifications based on the agencies we’ve talked with that are interested in using it to better accommodate their needs,” Sheehan said. “We found that the original concept of the product is good, but we’re trying to build a little more into the product. We’re in discussions with several people who are interested in piloting the software.” Sheehan said as soon as the software is ready, PSAPs with ILM can accept digital photos or videos directly from 911 callers. “There’s that perception that you have to wait for a next-generation 911 system to be developed,” he said. “That’s really not the truth. You need an Internet connection and a computer on one end to receive it, then you can receive those photos at your 911 center.” AUG_07 and that pranksters don’t flood the PSAP with bogus images. “There’s a process where you have to be able to verify what’s being sent in [and] make sure the picture is timely — maybe somebody is sending a picture from two months ago,” said Nicholas Sbordone, spokesman for the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. “There are a lot of questions we have to work out to make sure that we’re getting timely information and appropriate information. Those are the kinds of things we’re sorting through now.” Sbordone said the technology fits with Bloomberg’s theme of a more transparent, accessible and accountable government. “On the public safety side, it makes sense to be able to text things in real time,” he said, adding that the cost of the project has yet to be determined. The capability will be part of the next generation of 911, Halley said. “When [NENA] started, our mantra was, ‘One nation, one number.’ Now we’re sort of adding, ‘Any device, anywhere, anytime.’ But there’s got to be some limitations on what devices and what information is appropriate. We have to figure out operationally how to design a system so only the information we want, or that is authorized, is sent. You don’t want anybody to be able to send anything they want.” He said part of the solution is modernizing current 911 systems, and public safety officials know full well that more and more people use text messages and send each other pictures snapped by cell phones. PSAPs are hindered by the limitations of the existing, circuit-switched analog system, and 911 systems aren’t designed to receive packets of data with photos, he said. The challenge facing 911 call centers is to find a way to address current technology with old 911 systems. “How do we modernize our 911 systems’ inherent limitations to get to where we have a more robust IP-based system,” Halley said, “so there is a possibility of sending video, text, pictures, into 911 without having to do all these work-around solutions?” Stay tuned. 44

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - August 2007

Contents Point of View The Big Picture The Last Mile Letter to the Editor GT Spectrum Up Close Vanishing Act Way Back Machine Fast Track to Nowhere Best of Both Worlds Texting 911? GIS to Go Neighborhood Watch Two Cents Products Signal: Noise Government Solutions

Government Technology - August 2007

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