It is important first responders know as many details as possible when going into an emergency.

To help with that, Carbon County approved a request to purchase a subscription order from Prepared Emergency Communications Service of New York, New York, to allow dispatchers to send a link to mobile 911 callers that would open a livestream to allow photos, video, text and GPS locations in real-time. There is no cost to the county for this service.

Gary Williams, communications director, said this “is a great software solution” because it will enable dispatchers to see what the caller sees.

“Where I see a big advantage is 911 hang-up calls,” Williams said, adding that this is because if they are domestic violence calls.

Through this system, if dispatchers receive a 911 hang-up call through a mobile device, they can send a link to that device to start a livestream.

“Then we could see what they see, what they are say,” he said. “Basically, to make sure everything is where it should be.”

Williams said it could be sent to firefighters so they can see fire or crash scenes and know what they are dealing with before they arrive; or police to know what kind of situation they are walking into when they are dispatched.

The board used a situation of an active shooter, where a caller could click the link and show dispatchers what is happening so law enforcement would know how to help.

“911 has really come a long way,” Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said.

“Carbon County may be a small county, but honestly, we have a lot of tools that really go ahead of a bigger county at our disposal,” Williams said.

He added that in addition to this, the 911 communication center has indoor mapping projects, schematics for schools and business so this will be “another tool to our arsenal that will help everybody.”