New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday announced that callers to 911 and 311 are nowable to send photos or video to assist in crime fighting and report quality of life complaints.
Callers to emergency call 911 will be able to send photos or video from a cell phone or computer to the NYPD (New York Police Department)'s Real Time Crime Center, where relevant images may be used to assist in crime fighting or in responding to other emergencies, according to a report available on www.nyc.gov.
The public will be able to send pictures and videos from computers and web-enabled cell phones and PDAs to accompany certain service call 311 quality of life complaints, the report said.
The New York City Police Department reportedly receives approximately 11 million 911 calls annually and the 311 Customer Service Center receives approximately 15 million calls each year.
"By upgrading 911 and 311 to accept photos and video, we are bringing government accountability -- and crime-fighting -- to a whole new level," the mayor was cited as saying. "If your cell phone is equipped with a camera -- and many are these days -- you might be able to get a picture of something that will help the police solve a crime."
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. The images may also be used in concert with the Real Time Crime Center's powerful data mining and link analysis capacity to identify and locate suspects as quickly as possible, according to the report.
This marks the first step in the city's ability to receive pictures and videos from the public. Next year the city will introduce additional infrastructure to further improve 911 and 311's ability to receive pictures and videos from the public, said the report.
Source:Xinhua
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