By David Gambino
The Decatur Daily
MORGAN COUNTY, Ala. 鈥� Following board approval last month, Morgan County 911 now has the capability to receive pictures, videos and livestreams from callers 鈥� a capability that officials expect will bring several benefits to first responders.
鈥淚t would give the guys that are responding to the incident the opportunity to think about specifically what they may need to do or not do while they鈥檙e en route, instead of waiting until they get there on the scene to see it,鈥� said Decatur Fire & Rescue Chief Tracy Thornton.
Morgan County 911 Director Jeanie Pharis demonstrated the new capability for The Decatur Daily on Monday. When a dispatcher receives a call, they have the option of sending a link to the caller via text message. Should the caller follow the link, they are given simple instructions to send things like location, images or video. They can even begin a livestream, and the corresponding video appears in a window on the dispatcher鈥檚 computer.
The Alabama State 9-1-1 Board brought text-to-911 capabilities to dispatch centers by partnering with Prepared, a New York-based company that creates 911 telecommunication software, in December 2023. Pharis explained that the partnership included the ability to receive images and videos from callers since then, but dispatch centers have taken some time to get a handle on the new technology before greenlighting its use.
鈥淭he concerns with video/live streaming to 911 is, of course, the legal issues,鈥� said Pharis. 鈥淭he Open Records Act does not address how to handle videos.
鈥淭he other thing is making sure that our employees have the mental health assistance that they need because they have coping skills developed for what they hear on the phone, but the coping skills that they鈥檝e developed do not necessarily carry over to what they may see on a video.鈥�
Morgan County 911 employees have access to Eagle Counseling through a contract.
Apple鈥檚 marketing of iOS 18鈥檚 video-to-911 capability using iPhone鈥檚 Emergency SOS feature last month also played a role in Morgan County鈥檚 implementation, according to Pharis.
鈥淲e knew that people were going to start seeing it more, so we figured we probably should get on the ball and go ahead and address what we wanted to do with it,鈥� she said.
Despite the marketing, users won鈥檛 need an iPhone to send video to Morgan County 911. Pharis said the center can receive images and video from any phone capable of sending text messages.
There are pros and cons to receiving a video during a call. For example, Pharis said a livestream video demands attention from a dispatcher that might otherwise be used to answer other incoming calls.
As such, Morgan County 911 dispatchers plan to only use the capability when it adds crucial information to the call. Pharis said the decision-making process is based on newly developed guidelines and dispatcher discretion. Callers do not have the ability to send unsolicited images or videos to dispatch 鈥� images and videos must first be requested by 911.
鈥淭here are potentials on, say, an accident or something where you could see road blockage or maybe some other hazards,鈥� Pharis said of the potential benefits of images and video. 鈥淭hey could determine some safety issues for responders. If somebody is in a dangerous situation, it could be used to obtain suspect information.
鈥淚mages could actually be used if you have a missing person call or AMBER alert. We could receive a picture from that person here at the center, attach it to the CAD (computer-aided dispatch) call, and every officer could see a picture. We could put out a bulletin. That type of visibility is huge when you鈥檙e talking about AMBER alerts.鈥�
Thornton said, that while firefighters will still have to assess emergency situations on scene, images or video sent to 911 may include useful information that first responders might otherwise not receive from just an audio call.
鈥淒ispatchers aren鈥檛 always able to get the exact details from the caller, because in a tense situation, they may not always be able to get the information that they want,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f they have something like that, an image or a video, I know that would give them better capabilities of dispatching us out and getting us more information.鈥�
So far, Pharis said Morgan County dispatchers haven鈥檛 used the livestream feature on an active call since the capability became available. However, she said they have used Prepared鈥檚 software to find the locations of non-emergency calls. She鈥檚 looking into expanding the video/image-to-911 capability to a non-emergency line.
鈥淔or example, when we get storms that come through and trees down, they can text pictures to the non-emergency line,鈥� she said. 鈥淥r if someone wants to report a traffic light out, a dog loose, etc. That could reduce our (emergency) call volume.鈥�
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