By Cherie Bartram
The “Q” word is just as bad as any four-letter word you could say during a shift in the PSAP environment. Yet, most telecommunicators manage to mumble that word accidentally more than once during their careers and cringe as the inevitable seems to happen. As an unwritten rule of the universe, when the word “quiet” is used, the calmness of the shift is about to come to a screeching halt. Soon the room would be pierced with the ringing of the 911 lines and the hum of voices talking to callers and dispatching the appropriate public safety units to multiple calls for service. At this point, telecommuters make the most of the available tools. Some dispatch centers have interfaced phones and CAD, some have AVL’s for all of their units on the road, and most all have the ability to see the phone number of the incoming 911 call at a minimum. Unfortunately, even with all of these tools available, an accurate description and location of the incident are still difficult to obtain.
Throughout the years, technological improvements have been a tremendous benefit to the 911profession. With the advancement of cell phone and video technology, discussions have arisen within the 911industry and their commercial partners of what a 911 video call would look like once it arrived in aPSAP. Equature’s911 video solution, InSight, reduces some of the stress and concern held by many in the 911profession.
Dispatchers are often dispatching because they are excited to be able to help others by being the true first responders, without the fear or burden of seeing the scene of those they are helping. Equature InSighteliminates that fear by providing total control to the dispatcher. The only scenes the dispatchers see are the ones where they initiate the video connection. There is also a concern of having a two-way video with video 911 and losing the anonymity of being the voice on the other side of the call for help. By allowing only a one-way video stream from caller to dispatch, Equature InSight maintains dispatcher anonymity.
Imagine the benefit of having a citizen stream in a structure fire and being able to provide responders with the exact information of the structure and the fire. Better yet, how much more information woulda picture provide over a verbal description of a suspicious vehicle? Some people just struggle with vehicle descriptions. You know those calls where you ask for the make and model of the vehicle andtheir response is, “It’s white with 2doors”? With InSight, you can reduce the number of times you send public safety to a call for service without better descriptions! Your PSAP will have one more tool to use to help tackle those days when the “Q” word seems to be elusive in your center.
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