The FCC is trying to get 911 emergency services up to date with the latest technologies involving mobile devices. The bulk of the task involves building a system that could handle accepting 911 text messages, mobile video footage, audio recordings, pictures and pings (mainly from services such as alarm systems and On-Star enabled vehicles).
The FCC sees this as a challenge, but a must in the continued advancement in emergency needs for the public. These functions would allow someone to report a crime without being overheard, or from off in the distance if they see a crime being committed.
The FCC said the following at a Press Release Tuesday announcing their planned changes;
“The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences… During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received. If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding.”
This could be a huge aid in the speed to which emergency situations are responded to, as well as resolved within a time frame where evidence is crucial. It is noted that currently, there are over 230 million 911 calls, 70% of which are made from mobile devices.
[via Wired]