Rave Mobile Safety and RapidDeploy to deliver the public safety data sharing project
Todd Piett of Rave Mobile Safety
Framingham, Mass. 23 August 2022 – Rave Mobile Safety, the trusted provider of technology solutions that enhance critical communications, increase resiliency, and improve safety, has partnered with RapidDeploy, the industry specialist in cloud-native 9-1-1 mapping and analytics, to launch the public safety incident data sharing solution in the state of California.
This project will utilise public safety data aggregation, intelligence sharing, workflows, and notification capabilities found in Rave Aware to enable Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) data sharing, interoperability, and real-time information exchanges while leveraging best-in-class mapping and data visualisation from RapidDeploy Radius Mapping.
With the increase in size and frequency of disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes, and flooding, collaboration between police, fire, EMS, and other agencies has become more critical. In the past, integrated responses have been hampered by jurisdictional boundaries, siloed communications, and reliance on on-premise legacy technologies. California is the first statewide implementation of Rave Aware’s data sharing technology, combining insights from disparate systems for improved outcomes, and sets the stage for a wide variety of data to be integrated into the RapidDeploy platform in a unified way as part of the 9-1-1 call taker workflow.
“This is a major step forward for public safety in general, and in particular for the residents of California, who will benefit from decreased response times and more data-informed decision making whenever they call 9-1-1,” Rave Mobile Safety CEO Todd Piett says. “Each day we witness tragic events that demonstrate the importance of a holistic response, and until now, public safety organisations have been unable to seamlessly share critical information across jurisdictions about concerning events as they were unfolding.”
The innovative undertaking utilises Rave Aware’s data aggregation technology so that public safety agencies and the broader response community have access to incident details and can react swiftly. Agencies will also be able to visualise shared data as part of RapidDeploy Radius Mapping, a cloud-native solution, alongside mobile device call data with live location capabilities, streaming video, text messages, crash data, and alarm data.
“This project breaks down siloes throughout the state, improving outcomes for its citizens, first responders, and social workers,” says Steve Raucher, co-founder and CEO of RapidDeploy. “We are honored to partner with California officials and Rave so that 9-1-1 call takers have essential information when and how they need it to improve workflows and safety outcomes.”
California has one of the largest 9-1-1 systems, with 450 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) handling close to 30 million calls a year. Earlier this year, Rave Mobile Safety announced it had been selected as California’s emergency notification alert and warning system for the state’s Next Generation 9-1-1 or NG911 infrastructure project. The company will now expand its work in California by utilising Rave Aware to foster agency-to-agency data sharing. Over the last three years, RapidDeploy has partnered with California to bring next-generation mapping and text-to-911 to the state. During this time, more than 150 million signals have been processed.
Communities have relied on 9-1-1 systems to respond to emergency response needs for more than 40 years, but as cellular phones, text messaging, video chat, social media, and other internet devices have emerged, it has become clear that PSAPs need to be able to accept information from various communication sources. The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) or the 9-1-1 Association has been advocating for updated 9-1-1 systems since 2000 so that emergency call takers are prepared to meet the needs of anyone requesting public safety assistance.
“NENA has long championed the importance of data sharing and interoperability to the emergency response process as part of NG911,” says Brian Fontes, CEO of NENA. “We applaud California’s public safety leadership for taking this bold step in improving emergency response, as well as the technology partners they have chosen for this groundbreaking initiative. This level of data conveyance and data visualisation will certainly enhance public safety response across the state and pave the way for similar efforts in other states.”
By taking these steps, California has laid the groundwork for future safety enhancements, including the ability to collaborate with emerging innovative first responder processes, mobile crisis teams, and the new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline call centre, which provides confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress. Additionally, the state will be able to universally protect schools and other soft targets by leveraging the Smart Proximity Alerts feature within Rave Aware, which allows authorities to set up automatic notifications regarding certain incident types or activities within geo-fenced areas of protection.
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