Smart 911 Goes Live in Kent County - Kent County

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The following is a press release from Kent County 911 Center: "Kent County Enhances 9-1-1 Services With Smart911

Public Safety Officials Encourage Residents to Sign Up For the Free Service That Provides Emergency Responders With More Information to Save Time and Save Lives

DOVER, DE. September 9, 2015 – Public safety officials in Kent County announced today that Smart911 is now available to all citizens. Smart911 is a free service that allows citizens to create a Safety Profile for their household that can include any information they may want 9-1-1 call takers and first responders to have in the event of an emergency, then if they need to dial 9-1-1 their Safety Profile will immediately display on the call taker’s screen saving critical seconds and even minutes in response to the emergency.

“Smart911 is a great step forward in emergency response.” said Chief Colin T. Faulkner “When you dial 9-1-1, you are not having your best day, and even the simplest of details can be difficult to communicate in a time of panic. Now we can approach the scene of an emergency more safely, as well as provide faster and more precise response.”

Smart911 allows citizens to create a Safety Profile at www.smart911.com for their household that includes any information they want 9-1-1 and response teams to have in the event of an emergency. When a citizen makes an emergency call, their Safety Profile is automatically displayed to the 9-1-1 call taker, allowing them to send the right response teams to the right location with the right information. Responders can be aware of many details they would not have known previously, and now fire crews can arrive at a house fire knowing how many people live in the home and the location of bedrooms, EMS can be advised of allergies or specific medical conditions and police can have the photo of a missing child in seconds rather than minutes or hours.

“Having the information that is available through a Safety Profile can greatly affect the way units respond to an emergency, “said Assistant Director Kevin Sipple. “If responding units know exactly where there going and who they are looking for in a house fire or at the scene of a vehicle accident, those details can help units assess and then respond to those citizens more efficiently.”

With Smart911, citizens can link both home and work addresses to mobile phones, which can be passed on to responders in the field for more a detailed, rapid response. Additional information including pets in the home, vehicle details in the event of an accident, and even emergency contacts can all be included in a Safety Profile. All information is optional and the citizen has the ability to choose what details they would like to include.

“The benefits of this information on a 9-1-1 call from a cell phone are immeasurable”, said Commissioner Terry Pepper. “Smart911 is also a national service, so your profile will travel with you, to any other location in Delaware or in the US that supports Smart911.”

Smart911 is currently available in 40 states and more than 1500 municipalities across the country. In Delaware Smart911 is available across the entire state with service already active in both New Castle and Sussex Counties.

Citizens are encouraged to create their Safety Profile with Smart911 today to have their information immediately available to 9-1-1. Smart911 is private and secure, is only used for emergency responses, and only made available to the 9-1-1 system in the event of an emergency call. The Magnolia Vol. Fire Co. encourages the community to begin inputting a safety profile. This will allow first responders to access information more quickly in the time of an emergency.

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