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NYC Opens 911 Hotline To Pictures, Video
Anti-Globalism brings news that New York City has set up a system to accept pictures and videos for their 911 and non-emergency hotlines. The files can come from cell phones, computers, and PDAs. Quoting:
"Tipsters in New York City can now send photos and video ... to report crimes and quality-of-life issues such as potholes, officials announced Tuesday. Depending on the case, the images may be shared widely with the public, with police officers on patrol, individual detectives or other law enforcement agencies, according to city officials. The images may also be used to help in assessing and responding to emergencies."
I think this is a great addition. Just think of the 911 dispatcher being able to send a video of an injured person to a doctor or the EMS unit, allowing the caller to get expert medical advice.
Also think of Colombine, where police may have a chance to get a look at the suspects or be able to pinpoint their location by ruling out places that they aren't.
Tea and kung-fu. Life is good. Rising Phoenix
>I think this is a great addition. Just think of the 911 dispatcher being able to send a video of an injured person to a doctor or the EMS unit, allowing the caller to get expert medical advice.
But first they have to find it amongst the thousands of pictures of wrongly parked cars the overzealous 'photo-sheriffs' send in every hour.
Hello, 911? It's Quagmire. Yeah, it's caught in the window this time.
Realize that this is an option, not a requirement. It's not as if you'll call 911 and they'll demand that you provide photos or video. But if it's relevant to the situation, and you did managed to get a picture (for instance, as someone said above, taking pictures of a fire), they are now equipped to receive that picture. Or say you just witnessed a robbery in progress and you got a picture of the getaway car as it was leaving, you can now send that to them. And of course this is also available for non-emergency lines, where it will probably see more use as the situations are not time-critical.
Give the stupidity of governments these days, I could see them "solving" the problem of hoax calls that way.
Pics or it ain't true!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Yeah, it would kind of suck if the last words you heard on this planet were "pics or it didn't happen"....
Monstar L
Dunno...I see a whole bunch of ways this can go wrong. First, Lets assume...oh...1 in a thousand people in NY actually send in a photo or video. There's 8.2 million people in New York, so that'd be 8,2000 pictures and videos. All of these need to be looked at closly, to make sure that they're important, and if so, what it shows. That's a lot of time and effort, and I don't know how good it'll be.
It has great Potential, but that may be all it is, a great idea on paper.
People have been arrested for photographing buildings and such, and their equipment confiscated, being accused of plotting terrorist acts. People suspected of terrorism have had photographs they possessed used as evidence against them. Now people are going to be taking pictures and video of people, places and things in NYC, where they're already sensitized to this kind of thing.
It's only a matter of time before some law enforcement person sees someone taking pictures of something, intended to be sent to 911, and investigates the situation for possible terrorist intent. In most cases the "perp" will be able to show their true intent, but it's only a matter of time before someone can't get themselves cleared on the spot and is arrested for suspected terrorism. Almost everyone so accused and arrested have been cleared and released, but many of them have been held without due process for extreme amounts of time.
Envision a cab driver taking pictures of potholes. Not very damaging you'd think. Now envision that cab driver as wearing a turban, as many do in NYC. Figure their odds.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B