Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to let 911 callers send cellphone pictures to dispatchers is technically feasible – but actually building the idea into the city’s creaky communications system won’t be easy, experts said yesterday.
“The existing system we have for 911 is very antiquated, even in New York,” said Henning Schulzrinne, a Columbia University computer expert who has worked on 911 systems.
All 911 operators can receive now is a caller’s voice and telephone number. “That’s it,” said Schulzrinne. “You can’t do SMS [text messaging], you can’t do photos, you can’t do anything else.”
City officials acknowledge that giving New York’s 911 system the ability to handle cellphone pictures will take a “multiyear” effort.
They aren’t sure how many millions such a system would cost, and Bloomberg did not mention a price tag in his proposal. Already, the city collects a monthly tax of 30 cents on cellphone lines that is supposed to fund 911 improvements.
Cellphone pictures are just one way to improve 911 systems, say engineers who foresee a day when emergency operators will respond to live video of a bank robbery in progress, or a deaf person using sign language to seek help.
Engineers also say people should be able to directly contact 911 by computer or Blackberry text messages, and that cars could carry sensors that would automatically summon help in a crash.
But the changes are coming slowly.
Schulzrinne noted that phone companies have spent billions trying to develop systems that will let 911 dispatchers triangulate the exact location of people calling from cellphones – a system known as e-911.
Such a system was cited as a justification for boosting city and state cellphone taxes after the deaths of four teens who briefly called for help when their boat sank off City Island in 2003. It sparked an uproar because 911 was not able to locate where they were.
“It’s not going to all come at once. It’s not like turning on a light switch – it’ll be a slow, steady trickle,” said Jeremy Smith, an engineer for Plant CMS, which builds 911 systems for cities around the country.
A Connecticut company, PowerPhone, says it’s already selling a system that does what Bloomberg proposed.
“If I see somebody in the subway dumping chemicals, I can take a picture of the guy,” said company spokesman Greg Sheehan. “The 911 operator will send me a message. I can reply to that message with the photo attached.”
Then, Sheehan said, the photo might be sent to cops.