Using technology that most everyone already has, regional dispatchers hope to give first responders the ability to see what they will encounter even before they arrive at the scene of an emergency. “When you make a phone call often to 9-1-1 its in a stressful environment or the rate of anxiety is high for the caller, so they are not good information providers at least not at the detail level that we would like to have,” said Roddy Walter, director of WARCOG, a consolidated dispatch center that serves the communities of Ashland, Orrville, Wooster and the fire service for Kidron Ohio.
For the next 30 days WARCOG will be giving a system called “911eye” a trial run.
The system allows dispatchers to send an encrypted message to 9-1-1 callers that lets them tap into the caller’s cell phone to get an accurate GPS signal of their location within five meters, and with the caller’s permission allows them to tap into the callers cell phone camera.