Once Knox County’s Smart911 system is installed and ready to go, residents will be able to text and send picture messages to 911 dispatchers. And that’s just the beginning.
The Knox County Board last night approved spending $20,000 to install the upgrade and to continue spending $15,000 each year after 2016 to keep the system running.
Sheriff Dave Clague says residents will be able to use a smartphone app to text tips or emergencies directly to 911 dispatchers as well as send pictures and upload data on family members, floor plans and even health conditions first responders should be aware of.
Clague tells WGIL he hopes to have the Smart911 system active within a couple months.
“Hopefully now that the board OK’d everything, we can start getting contracts signed and hopefully in a short period of time, everything will be up and running,” he says.
At last night’s County Board meeting, board member John Hunigan raised concerns about how secure personal data would be. Clague said Rave Guardian, the company in charge of the Smart911 app, guarantees the security of personal data. He adds that the company has not had any reported problems of data breeches.
Smart911 is part of the 9-1-1 digital switch that upgraded the county’s dispatch systems from decades-old analog technology last year. The switchboard overhaul — paid for by the same quarter-percent sales tax as Smart911 — was estimated to cost between $400,000 and $500,000.
