WALTON COUNTY, Fla. — A tool used by 911 dispatchers helps locate people who may be in distress and need help. By simply clicking a link, 911 operators can see your location and even video call you, then help will be on the way.
This tool is called “RapidDeploy 911” and the Walton County Sheriff’s Office uses it every day.
“We’re gonna find you,” says Katie Davis, a communications officer at the sheriff’s office. “We’re gonna get you help with something like this, so it’s really exciting to have something like this with agency.”
Davis is answering 911 calls around the clock. But sometimes, when those calls come in, the caller doesn’t know where they are.
“Our area, we get a lot of out-of-towners just cause it’s a beautiful vacation area,” Davis says. “So we may have people that are not incredibly familiar with state parks, or even the road that they’re on. Or we may get younger or older callers or even some people that travel on it, they don’t know what mile marker they are at.”
But thanks to the tool RapidDeploy 911, Davis and the other communications officers can find exactly where you are with the click of a button. They send a link to your phone number, you click it, and in just seconds you’ll be found.
Davis showed WEAR News how it works.
“It’s given us an address down to the zip code,” says Davis. “It’s given us lat (latitude) long and then an uncertainty of 35mi, so the system’s telling us you are within a 35mi radius of this particular area.”
It even takes it a step further, giving the caller the ability to communicate your exact location on a FaceTime setup.
“You can reverse your screen and show me what you’re saying,” says Davis. “Walk me through whatever events going on and I can get a little bit larger view on my side.”
April 5, 2023, is a prime example of RapidDeploy in action.
A woman was stranded on a boat in the Choctawhatchee Bay. Using RapidDeploy they were able to pinpoint the boater’s location, even as she drifted on the water. The dispatcher was able to help the woman restart the boat using the video feature.
“We’re gonna get help in the systems, which is great cause that’s what we’re here for,” says Davis. “We’re here to help.”
Davis also tells WEAR News this technology can be critical in situations where a parent can’t locate a child. All the parent would need to do is give dispatchers their child’s phone number.
Along with Walton County, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties also use this technology.