Morgan County, AL, 9-1-1 Dispatchers Accepting Photos, Videos of Incidents

Oct. 26—Following board approval last month, Morgan County 911 now has the capability to receive pictures, videos and livestreams from callers — a capability that officials expect will bring several benefits to first responders.

"It would give the guys that are responding to the incident the opportunity to think about specifically what they may need to do or not do while they're enroute, instead of waiting until they get there on scene to see it," said Decatur Fire & Rescue Chief Tracy Thornton.

Morgan County 911 Director Jeanie Pharis demonstrated the new capability for The Decatur Daily on Monday. When a dispatcher receives a call, they have the option of sending a link to the caller via text message. Should the caller follow the link, they are given simple instructions to send things like location, images or video. They can even begin a livestream, and the corresponding video appears in a window on the dispatcher's computer.

The Alabama State 9-1-1 Board brought text-to-911 capabilities to dispatch centers by partnering with Prepared, a New York-based company that creates 911 telecommunication software, in December 2023. Pharis explained that the partnership included the ability to receive images and videos from callers since then, but dispatch centers have taken some time to get a handle on the new technology before greenlighting its use.

"The concerns with video/livestreaming to 911 is, of course, the legal issues," said Pharis. "The Open Records Act does not address how to handle videos.

"The other thing is making sure that our employees have the mental health assistance that they need, because they have coping skills developed for what they hear on the phone, but the coping skills that they've developed do not necessarily carry over to what they may see on a video."

Morgan County 911 employees have access to Eagle Counseling through a contract.

Apple's marketing of iOS 18's video-to-911 capability using iPhone's Emergency SOS feature last month also played a role in Morgan County's implementation, according to Pharis.

"We knew that people were going to start seeing it more, so we figured we probably should get on the ball and go ahead and address what we wanted to do with it," she said.

Despite the marketing, users won't need an iPhone to send video to Morgan County 911. Pharis said the center can receive images and video from any phone capable of sending text messages.

There are pros and cons to receiving a video during a call. For example, Pharis said a livestream video demands attention from a dispatcher that might otherwise be used to answer other incoming calls.

As such, Morgan County 911 dispatchers plan to only use the capability when it adds crucial information to the call. Pharis said the decision-making process is based on newly developed guidelines and dispatcher discretion. Callers do not have the ability to send unsolicited images or videos to dispatch — images and video must first be requested by 911.

"There are potentials on, say, an accident or something where you could see road blockage or maybe some other hazards," Pharis said of the potential benefits of images and video. "They could determine some safety issues for responders. If somebody is in a dangerous situation, it could be used to obtain suspect information.

"Images could actually be used if you have a missing person call or AMBER alert. We could receive a picture from that person here at the center, attach it to the CAD (computer-aided dispatch) call, and every officer could see a picture. We could put out a bulletin. That type of visibility is huge when you're talking about AMBER alerts."

Thornton said, while firefighters will still have to assess emergency situations on scene, images or video sent to 911 may include useful information that first responders might otherwise not receive from just an audio call.

"Dispatchers aren't always able to get the exact details from the caller, because in a tense situation they may not always be able to get the information that they want," he said. "If they have something like that, an image or a video, I know that would give them better capabilities of dispatching us out and getting us more information."

So far, Pharis said Morgan County dispatchers haven't used the livestream feature on an active call since the capability became available. However, she said they have used Prepared's software to find the locations of non-emergency calls. She's looking into expanding the video/image-to-911 capability to a non-emergency line.

"For example, when we get storms that come through and trees down, they can text pictures to the non-emergency line," she said. "Or if someone wants to report a traffic light out, a dog loose, etc. That could reduce our (emergency) call volume."

— [email protected] or 256-340-2438.

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