Cell Phone Photos To Alert New York Emergency Services

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New York is developing a system for accepting cell phone photos from citizens in its 9-1-1 and 3-1-1 call centers.

In August 2006 PowerPhone, the Connecticut-based 9-1-1 training and technology company, revealed the first system for delivering cell phone photos from 9-1-1 callers directly to call handlers.

The company demonstrated the new technology, called Incident Linked Multimedia (ILM), at the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials Annual Conference.

Incident Linked Multimedia (ILM), is part of PowerPhone’s Total Response® Computer Aided Call Handling™ software.

In a study by a leading European mobile communications retailer in conjunction with the London School of Economics, over 50% of respondents said they would use their camera phone to record evidence of a crime, while 47% said they would take pictures of a crime in progress.

Some public safety agencies already accept cell phone photos via email, but PowerPhone is the first to develop a system which integrates the photos directly into a 9-1-1 call record.

ILM also supports the transmission of video images from equipped camera phones.