BROOKHAVEN, Ga — On Thursday, Channel 2 Action News was the only station to ride along with Brookhaven Police as they used the new Live911 system.
It sends calls for help directly to patrol cars, cutting response times.
Recently, Channel 2′s Mark Winne spoke with Brookhaven officers about how this technology is helping police respond quicker.
It live streams 911 calls directly to patrol cars.
Brookhaven Police lieutenant Abrem Ayana said the new live streaming technology Brookhaven officers in the field have in their patrol units called Live911 could save lives and get justice for victims faster and keep officers and the public safer.
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Because officers in the field hear 911 calls as they come into the 911 center, saving precious seconds or even minutes that might otherwise be consumed through the ordinary dispatch process.
Ayana believes it has already saved lives.
“We no longer have to wait to be dispatched to an incident. The officers can hear it live, determine what resources are needed and we can start moving those resources to an incident,” Ayana said,
Ayana said officers in the field can see live where the call is coming from and how close they are and can track live the location of the 911 caller and that faster response gives officers more opportunities to de-escalate encounters with suspects.
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Winne rode with Brookhaven police officer Charles McCoy who says the first day he used Lve 911, it made a difference, getting him to a scene where a man with a bat had menaced an apartment worker.
“We were there in easily less than a minute,” McCoy said. “We came off the elevator as he was actively holding the baseball bat in an open aggressive manner.”
Brookhaven is the only police department in Georgia that has this technology, but Ayana hopes other law enforcement agencies soon follow suit.
“It is our hope that other police departments and not just police departments but fire departments will have this technology,” Ayana said. The old adage in law enforcement was when seconds count were only minutes away, through this product, we’re able to have our personnel on the scene of an emergency in seconds when seconds count,”
Ayana says Brookhaven went live with live 911 in October. He says at last check, Brookhaven was one of just 78 police or fire departments nationwide to use Live911 in the field.
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