Hamburg, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Town of Hamburg Public Safety Dispatch Center is testing software during distress calls called "Prepared Live", which allows dispatch to see what you're seeing in real time via video chat.
"We can also take that information we're receiving from the dispatch center and forward it out to responding units so they can have situational awareness as it's happening," said Sean Crotty, Hamburg's Emergency Management Coordinator.
Hamburg has been testing this program on the behalf of Erie County since December to see if this is something that can be used at the Sheriff's department or other local stations in the county.
Crotty says as long as someone is safe to operate their smartphone and they have consent to utilize their device camera, then they can send a hyperlink to the caller's phone that pops up right on their screen.
"There's no app to install on your phone, it's just a matter of clicking a hyperlink, and then it'll pop up on our screen. It will request permission to utilize their camera and microphone, you hit OK and then we now see what they see. And we can flip the camera around to see them and we can also text message back and forth.
Also, let's say that someone is reporting a missing person, and they have a picture of this person on their phone, they can go to their photo gallery and they can send us the image. We can then share that with responding units so that they know what the person looks like, while they're going to the scene, in case they come across somebody."
Crotty and Hamburg Police Lieutenant John Baker agree that this software is something that should be utilized in every dispatch center.
"I think it's an incredible tool," said Lt. Baker. "Oftentimes, at no fault of the public or the callers, people do see things differently. They will describe things differently and we have to then interpret the way they chose to describe certain things. What we're seeing in our minds as to how it's described, is not necessarily 100% accurate as to what's actually happening, or what we're actually looking for. Being able to see the actual person, the actual suspect, the actual victim, the actual event, or the actual location is a tremendous tool for law enforcement."
The software trial ends in March for Hamburg, then it's up to the county to renew the software.