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ACCPD First in Georgia to Use Uber Integration System with 911

The Athens-Clarke County Police Department is using the latest technology in the effort to help keep citizens safe. The department is the first in the state of Georgia to have an Uber integration system with the county’s 911.

Captain Keith Kelley heads the Central Communications Bureau at the department. He says thanks to this expanded 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 911 dispatchers in Athens-Clarke County.

“If you’re in an Uber vehicle and you press the emergency button on your Uber App, it will dial 911 and through RapidSOS it will give us your location,” according to Kelley. He says the technology also provides authorities with valuable identifying information.  “It will also give us the vehicle make, model and tag number that you’re riding in.”

The Uber integration is made possible as a result of another ACCPD partnership made earlier this year. In January, the ACC 911 Center partnered with RapidSOS, an emergency communications technology company.

“RapidSOS gives us more accurate information through the Internet of Things, which could be Wi-Fi devices, GPS devices, your smartphones, different technologies that are out there that your phone is interacting with, or your device is interacting with; and it gives us highly accurate information on where you are when you call.”

That provides access to the NG Clearinghouse which receives data from smartphones, connected cars and homes, and then sends the data to 911 and first responders. That information, Kelley says, is critical.

“Location is key, location is everything to us, we may know what’s occurring, but without the location we wouldn’t know where to send resources.”

According to Uber, the technology is available in more than 60 cities.

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