Eagle Eye 911 Camera Sharing offers 'eyes on scene’ to first responders

AUSTIN, Texas—Eagle Eye Networks has launched Eagle Eye 911 Camera Sharing, a technology that gives Emergency Communication Centers instant access to security cameras during an emergency and delivers critical incident information to first responders, through a partnership with RapidSOS. 

RapidSOS is an intelligent safety platform that directly and securely links life-saving data from more than 540 million connected devices, apps and sensors to more than 16,000 911 and field responder agencies covering 99% of the U.S. population. 

“First responders do extraordinary work managing hundreds of millions of 911 calls annually,” said RapidSOS CEO Michael Martin. “Now, responders can see directly from the location’s surveillance camera what is occurring at the scene of an alarm or a 911 call, verify the emergency and provide visual contextual information to field responders – transforming their ability to respond.” 

Here’s how it works: Eagle Eye 911 Camera Sharing requires a school or business to predetermine which cameras are shareable via Eagle Eye 911 Camera Sharing. When a 911 call triggers an alert, that enables EEC telecommunicators to instantly view footage from cameras at or near the crime scene. Video may be available from multiple sources, including any businesses in close proximity to the crime scene. From there, telecommunicators can use the security cameras for situational awareness and to inform first responders. 

“Video surveillance footage is only available to the telecommunicator (the professionals who work in ECCs answering 911 calls),” said Dean Drako, EEN CEO. “The telecommunicators are the ‘eyes on the scene’ and they deliver continuous verbal information to first responders on the ground (police, fire, EMTs) about what’s happening at the scene. The information that telecommunicators relay to first responders helps them respond more quickly and more safely in an emergency.” 

While security cameras are ubiquitous at schools and businesses, 911 telecommunicators typically cannot access them in an emergency. School leaders and public safety officials have lauded Eagle Eye 911 Camera Sharing as a groundbreaking technology that can quickly deliver important information when time is of the essence. 

“The Eagle Eye Networks 911 Camera Sharing solution we’ve implemented gives first responders critical information in real-time to guide their response to an emergency in our school,” said Damon Grant, co-principal of Oakland Unity Middle School, Oakland, Calif. “The presence of this technology serves as a silent guardian, ready to act if needed, but a resource we hope we will never need.”   

The measures Eagle Eye 911 Camera Sharing takes to secure data on the platform include, among other things, not requiring schools and businesses to share Individual IP addresses or camera logins with the ECC and not allowing the ECC to retrieve or view video after the emergency. 

“Cybersecurity and privacy are always a top priority at Eagle Eye Networks, in the Eagle Eye Cloud VMS and in Eagle Eye 911 Camera Sharing,” Drako said. “Customers — from schools to small businesses to large corporations — are eager to share their cameras during an emergency, but they want to ensure that those cameras are not viewed outside of an emergency and are not hacked.”