The two-month pilot will allow the public to live stream video and images of an incident during a 999 call directly to a police control room.
999eye was originally developed by Capita Page One and West Midlands Fire Service so that West Midlands Fire Service control room could have an accurate picture of the situation at hand and dispatch the relevant type of response. Gwent Police is the first police force in the UK to use the app, focusing first on emergency 999 calls, with 101 calls to be included at the end of November.
It works by sending, with the 999 caller’s permission, a text message to their smartphone containing a URL. Once clicked, a one-use-only live stream is established that allows footage or images to be sent directly to the control room. GPS coordinates are also delivered, helping to pinpoint the exact location of an incident.
“This is a ground-breaking solution that is already delivering benefits to blue light services and the general public. We are very pleased that Gwent Police have decided to take advantage of this technology and we look forward to the results of its pilot. 999eye is simple and secure to use. It allows control room operators, who are under considerable time pressure to see the incident, helping them allocate the correct resources – in an emergency, saving time could save lives.
“The benefits that 999eye can bring to the police and other blue light services have already been recognised, with the solution winning a Product Innovation award at the BAPCO 2017 conference, for the product that has the greatest impact on public safety communications.” Chris Jones, CEO, PageOne, Capita
