SIDNEY — The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office recently enabled RapidSOS, a solution that provides life-saving data – including caller location, health and medical information, connected building and alarm date, vehicle telematics data, and more – to 911 telecommunicators and first responders in the event of an emergency.
“When we go live, this will benefit the caller but will also enable a faster response time from the deputies, therefore getting them to the location faster,” Shelby County Sheriff Jim Frye said.
Today, 911 telecommunicators are forced to rely on the limited information a phone call can provide, often resulting in dispatching delays and first responders arriving on scene under-informed. In partnership with public safety, RapidSOS created the world’s first emergency response data platform that securely links life-saving data from over 350 million connected devices to over 5,000 emergency communication centers nationwide – protecting more than 300 million people in the U.S.
“With us being able to integrate this into what we currently have, we are going to be able to serve the people of Shelby County better. With RapidSOS we are able to see the 911 call before it even rings into our dispatch center. With real time location, we no longer have to wait for the second phase to see where the caller is at and are able to get the proper resources to you seconds faster,” Tori Butterfield, 911 dispatcher Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, said.
RapidSOS has also teamed up with SirusXM, What3Words and Emergency Health Profile. Butterfield said that the residents of Shelby County are encouraged to look into creating accounts with What3Words and Emergency Health Profile. Each one of the apps will help local dispatchers with either medical information during an emergency or location, even if a caller does not know where they are at.
SirusXM is able to alert dispatchers of an accident if the vehicle is a Dodge, Ram, Jeep or Chrysler. Before any deputies, EMS or fire personnel arrive on scene, they will know the make, model, VIN, and airbag deployment of the vehcile, how many passengers are in the vehicle and the impact point.
“We at the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office are excited to be partnered with RapidSOS and to be able to provide fast and reliant help in an emergency situation to our residents of Shelby County,” Butterfield said.
“Shelby County Sheriff’s Office is leading the way in 911 technology to improve emergency response,” Karin Marquez, RapidSOS senior director of Public Safety, said. “We are thrilled to provide Shelby County Sheriff’s Office telecommunicators with the information they need to get citizens help quickly in an emergency and save lives.”
Shelby County residents can also become RapidSOS Ready by creating a free Emergency Health Profile at www.emegencyprofile.org. By doing so, residents can provide first responder with life-saving information necessary to care for callers in a medical emergency. This information will only be accessed during a 911 call initiated from the phone number associated with the caller’s profile and will only be used for this purpose only.
“As technology evolves, we as a law enforcement agency have to evolve with it, and as sheriff, I will take every tool available if it will help a victim and allow us as an agency to provide a better service to our citizens,” Frye said.
Become RapidSOS Ready by:
• Creating a free Emergency Health Profile by visiting www.emergencyprofile.org;
• Dialing 911 in an emergency; and
• Download the free app What3Words to an Android or Apple phone.
For more information regarding RapidSOS, What3Words, Emergency Health Profile and how Shelby County Dispatchers are using this to better serve the community, contact Butterfield at [email protected].
