Chicago accepts video 9-1-1 calls from cell phones

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Updated: April 16, 2011 12:18AM

Chicago has become the first city to allow citizens calling 9-1-1 to send photos and videos of the incidents from their cell phones.

All the images are sent to the police department’s crime prevention information center, which reviews them to see whether they should be distributed to first responders or detectives investigating the incident.

“No other city does that right now,” said Jose Santiago, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communication.

The office began accepting the images from citizens in September as part of a pilot program, said Roderick Drew, spokesman for OEMC.

“We can reasonably assume that if a caller says they have an image, that they know how to send it on their hand-held device,” Drew said.

So far, the city has received more than 40 images from callers. Most of them show property damage, such as a door that’s been kicked in by burglars, Drew said.

Drew refused to release any of the photos because he said it could endanger the senders, who are either victims or witnesses.

Santiago is warning citizens not to jeopardize themselves by trying to take pictures of shootings in progress or other violence. A call or text message works just as well in those situations, he said.

Drew said the images can be used not only by police, but also firefighters and other first responders. All the images received so far have been law-enforcement related, Drew said.

The city’s dispatch system already scans for any surveillance cameras within 150 feet of a call. Any real-time video then gets put up on the call-taker’s screen with a map.

The images from 9-1-1 callers will allow authorities to analyze emergency situations more objectively, Santiago said. They also can be used as evidence in a criminal case, he said.

“Callers have a tendency to become confused or excited during an event,” Santiago said. “Pictures don’t.”

But some city officials worry the program won’t gain much popularity, pointing to the Txt2Tip initiative that allows people to text-message tips to the police.

That program never met the department’s expectations. Despite the department’s promise of anonymity, people fear their identities will be exposed to the criminals through the court system, a source said.

Txt2Tip started in 2008 and generated about 560 tips through the end of November, leading to about 20 arrests, mostly for drugs, according to the police department.

Drew emphasized that anyone providing an image to the 9-1-1 center can remain anonymous.