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Athens 911 first in state with Uber Integration

Athens has become the first 911 operating system in the state of Georgia to be outfitted with Uber integrations to assist local police in the safety of its users. WGAU’s Abby Jessen spoke with Athens-Clarke County Police Department Captain Keith Kelley about the implementation.

From the Athens-Clark County Police Department:

Uber has expanded its 9-1-1 information sharing program to include Athens-Clarke County. With this sharing program, when a rider or driver uses the Uber in-app emergency button to contact 911 operators, key trip details that can be used to help respond to an emergency will now be transmitted automatically to 9-1-1 dispatchers in Athens-Clarke County. The ACC 9-1-1 Center is the first in the state of Georgia to have this Uber integration.

This Uber integration relies on another ACCPD partnership established earlier in the year. In January, the Athens-Clarke County 9-1-1 Center, commonly called Central Communications, partnered with RapidSOS, an emergency communications technology company. Through RapidSOS, Central Communications has access to the NG911 Clearinghouse which receives data from the Internet of Things (smartphones, connected cars, wearables, and connected homes) and securely sends the relevant data to 9-1-1 and first responders.

“In Athens-Clarke County, it is important to get help to individuals during an emergency quickly. In some cases the caller may not be able to give accurate information about their location or may not be able to communicate at all. This technology will help 9-1-1 call takers get emergency services personnel to individuals in need by more quickly pinpointing their location,” said Captain Keith Kelley with the 9-1-1 Communications Center.

Previously, riders and drivers have been able to see their GPS location and vehicle details (make, model, color, and license plate) in the app when they press Uber’s emergency button to call 9-1-1. With this new technology, those details will be sent to 9-1-1 dispatchers electronically in Athens-Clarke County.

“We believe technology can help make the roads safer. This feature is available in more than 60 cities, and we are proud to add Athens-Clarke County, to the growing list of cities and counties using this technology,” said Krishnaja Gutta, Uber Product Safety Manager.

“Every second counts in an emergency, and we want to make sure Uber users have important information to get help quickly if faced with an emergency situation." The NG911 Clearinghouse is a centralized and secure location information server that is purpose-built for Next Generation 9-1-1.

To learn more about RapidSOS and the NG911 Clearinghouse, visit https://rapidsos.com/ng911clearinghouse/.

Visit https://www.uber.com/newsroom/emergencybutton/ to learn more about Uber’s Emergency Button.

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