Criminals beware, the geeky, headphone-adorned, iPhone game addict playing on a Manhattan street corner might just be a secret police spy - at least that's what New York City Mayor Bloomberg is hoping will happen following the unveiling of a new emergency response system this week.
The new system allows anyone to send videos or photos to a 911 call center to report a crime or emergency situation. By embracing multimedia messaging, Bloomberg feels he can give 911 call centers a 1,000 word jump on the situation through pictures of a scene or suspect.
"This technology should put a scare into every
would-be criminal, because the chances of getting caught in the act is
now better than ever," said Bloomberg.
Within a year, 911 dispatchers will be able to forward images captured
by witnesses directly to police officers in the vicinity of the
reported crime or incident.
Although other cities allow citizens to text emergency reports, NYC
officials claim they are the first in the nation to allow multimedia
messages to be delivered. But the system still allows those who wish to
report something to a 911 call center verbally and send the
images after reporting.
"Before I became mayor, I built a business on the idea that we could
improve companies' performance by delivering better information faster,
and we've tried to bring that same philosophy to government," Bloomberg told CBS.
Residents of the city can also send in videos or pictures of non-emergencies like road or lighting problems, graffiti, or inappropriate conduct by city officials to New York's non-emergency hot line, 311. It looks like Jimmy Justice finally has a place for his videos of illegally parked police officers besides YouTube.
CBS and AP reported that the new response system cost $250,000 and 18 months to build the software. In the government contracting world, that's like Wal-Mart prices.
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