{"id":76452,"date":"2020-09-26T23:49:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T20:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/nypd-dispatch-gets-modernized-by-debuting-text-to-911-messages\/"},"modified":"2020-09-26T23:49:26","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T20:49:26","slug":"nypd-dispatch-gets-modernized-by-debuting-text-to-911-messages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/nypd-dispatch-gets-modernized-by-debuting-text-to-911-messages\/","title":{"rendered":"#NYPD dispatch gets modernized by debuting text-to-911 messages"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#NYPD dispatch gets modernized by debuting text-to-911 messages<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n A 51-year-old South Bronx man was torn about what to do when he saw an angry young man with a pistol in his backpack fighting with another person at a crowded neighborhood deli.<\/p>\n

He was worried about gunshots \u2014 but was wary about calling 911.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to be a knucklehead myself,\u201d said the witness, a professional cook who spoke on the condition of anonymity. \u201cI\u2019m from the hood and we don\u2019t call 911. We take care of things our way.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut \u2026 I saw the guy reach for the gun and I had to do something in case people got hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, he had an alternative to phoning it in. Since June 2, New Yorkers can text to 911 for the first time.<\/p>\n

The grandfather\u2019s simple message came over at 4:12 pm to veteran NYPD dispatcher Kathyann Peters on Sept. 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cMale 6\u2019 tall red shirt gun in fanny pack in front of deli.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eighteen minutes later, 25-year-old Mustafa Anderson, who has a prior rap sheet involving assault and harassment, was arrested nearby after throwing out what turned out to be an imitation pistol.<\/p>\n

For dispatcher Peters, handling a 911 text is sometimes easier than fielding a call \u2014 because people tend to get right to the point, she said.<\/p>\n

\"A
A mock demonstration of what New Yorkers see when they text to 911.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Texting is ideal for the roughly 208,000 hearing-impaired city residents, those with speech difficulties and young people who prefer it to phoning \u2014 but Peters said a lot of 911 texts are coming from domestic-violence victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times the perpetrator is someone right in the house with them and they\u2019re much safer texting us than they would be calling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The cook who texted the call that led to Anderson\u2019s arrest felt safer, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019d phoned it in, people could have heard me and I might have gotten into an altercation myself,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cThis way I went and had a sandwich and continued about on my business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city urges citizens to text 911 only if they cannot call, however.<\/p>\n

City data shows that most response times for texts lag well behind the response times for voice calls.<\/p>\n

For instance, in July, the average NYPD response time to a 911 call for a critical crime in progress \u2014 including shots fired, robberies and assaults with weapons \u2014 was 8.3 minutes. For texts, it was 13 minutes.<\/p>\n

For medical emergencies, the FDNY\u2019s response time to calls was 10.5 minutes, but to texts it was 15.9 minutes.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Technology<\/a> meets new era of policing.<\/p>\n

Today, Officer??\u200d\u2642\ufe0fCruz &??\u200d\u2640\ufe0f Officer Sosa were alerted to a male carrying a gun through the 911 app. Equipped with a detailed descript<\/a>ion they were able to locate the individual who tried to ditch this imitation pistol before he was apprehended. pic.twitter.com\/TdsU2DZTon<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NYPD 40th Precinct (@NYPD40Pct) September 11, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIf your life is on the line, you don\u2019t want to be text messaging back and forth with 911,\u201d a veteran EMS member said.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine getting CPR instructions by text, or your baby is choking and you\u2019re waiting for a text message to know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NYPD\u2019s launch of text-to-911 comes after more than six years of infighting and stalled initiatives<\/a> surrounding the service. Officials initially promised to have the system online by early 2018.<\/p>\n

The program is part of a larger $28 million contract<\/span> awarded to Motorola subsidiary Vesta Solutions in 2017, which ballooned to $41 million as the delays continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe department\u2019s gone from the Stone Age to Renaissance to the dotcom era just since 2014,\u201d said Deputy Commissioner Matthew Fraser, head of Information Technology for the NYPD.<\/p>\n

\u201cCops have tablets and smartphones with them that help them see jobs in real time. Texting to 911 is part of precision policing. We can\u2019t afford to let the technology get ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PCT
PCT Kathyann Peters shows what NYPD sees when receiving a 911 text.<\/span>J.C. Rice<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fraser did admit that the \u201ctechnology\u201d \u2014 at least when it comes to texting-to-911 \u2014 can sometimes invite what he termed \u201cinappropriate pictures.\u201d He declined to elaborate, but said it wasn\u2019t a serious problem.<\/p>\n

The Sept. 10 texter said he was unable to sleep the night after he sent the text.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not proud, I don\u2019t feel like a hero,\u201d he said when The Post told him the suspect was arrested without incident. \u201cThe bottom line is, where I come from, the cops are not always on our side. But I had to make a choice to contact them. I\u2019m glad I did, and I\u2019m glad I could do it via text.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n