It’s worth noting that despite all the technological advances of the past 20 years (including carrying a smartphone in your pocket), people still call 911 the old-fashioned way in times of crisis.
But one Manhattan-based company is working to change that.
Prepared’s technology allows users to call 911 and an operator connects the call while also sending a link to capture audio and video of the situation to assist dispatchers and emergency personnel.
“A picture is worth a thousand words, so if we can text a photo of a fire scene and say you see blue flames, you know it’s a chemical or hazardous material fire,” co-founder Michael Chaim told The Post, noting that these types of fires require an entirely different response, and advance information gives firefighters time to prepare.
In yet another scenario, people stranded on cliffs could send a video stream that allowed rescue helicopters to more easily pinpoint their location, he said.
“Citizens are empowered to share what’s happening in a situation so responders can respond with a complete picture,” Chaim said.
The company announced this week that Apple’s upcoming iOS 18 update will allow iPhone users to share videos and photos when they make an emergency SOS call with 911 call centers that use its Prepared technology, even without a link.
The company was born out of co-founders Michael Chaim, Dylan Gleicher and Neil Soni’s desire to improve public safety after growing up in neighborhoods hit by school shootings. Chaim witnessed his community devastated in 2012 when a former student shot and killed six students at Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio. Gleicher and Soni grew up less than 15 minutes away from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six school staff members were shot and killed that same year.
Prepared’s CEO, Chime, told The Washington Post that the trio wanted to develop an app that would make schools safer by reporting active shooters to police.
In 2020, the three dropped out of Yale University during their junior year, moved to New York City, and spent three weeks developing an app to help schools with 911 communications.
But they were stumped by the outdated technology used by 911 dispatchers, Chaim said.
“When we tried to share data from schools to 911, we realized the emergency system was built under the assumption that everyone had a landline,” said Chaim, 26. “We had to build the critical infrastructure first. [before we could focus on school shootings].”
Taking advantage of the fact that most callers use smartphones, they set out to develop technology that would allow emergency responders to see what was happening on the other end of a 911 call.
By 2022, Prepared had built a platform that could be installed on any dispatcher’s computer to display information about what’s happening at the emergency scene.
“You call 911 like you normally would, and the dispatcher will run the Prepared platform and send you a link,” Chaim said, explaining how the technology works.
The link can be used to translate calls with non-English speakers, transcribe conversations, and send audio, video, and photos from the scene, which will then be recorded, summarized, and communicated to first responders.
By the end of 2022, Chime had sold its technology to a handful of dispatchers in Connecticut.
The challenge, Chaim said, is that many cities are hesitant to adopt relatively untested new technologies that could complicate the response.
“They’re in the business of saving lives, so they don’t want to gamble on something new,” he explained.
But Chime said word of mouth has helped Prepared expand from providing its technology to fewer than 30 call centers four years ago to about 1,000 now, with more than 20 percent of dispatchers across the U.S. using the system.
The company, based in Midtown East Manhattan, has raised $35 million and hired more than 50 people.
This story is part of “NYNext,” a new editorial series showcasing innovations and those leading the way across industries in New York City.
Though New York City’s dispatch centers have yet to adopt the technology, Chaim believes New York is an ideal location for his company: “New York City is a great home for innovators and a great home for thinking about public safety,” he says.
“It’s a great place to develop ideas to solve public safety challenges, and it’s hard to think of a better place to apply them.”
