The Office of Public Safety, Health, and Welfare is pleased to announce the successful implementation and first use of Carbyne — a new communications management system used to assist Public Safety officials respond to emergencies.
On July 6 — hours, after Carbyne was implemented in Stamford — a Public Safety Dispatcher, received a call from a Stamford kayaker in distress marooned on rocks in Stamford's harbor after accidentally flipping their kayak. The kayaker was unable to get the attention of nearby boats and had difficulty describing to dispatch their exact location in the harbor. Using Carbyne's integrated management system, the dispatcher requested the caller's smartphone location data — providing dispatch with the exact longitude and latitude coordinates of their location. The kayaker accepted this request and shortly thereafter, a harbor patrol officer was dispatched and brought the kayaker ashore.
Carbyne is a cloud-based emergency call management platform that provides modern functionality to Public Safety Dispatch Centers around the country. Carbyne allows callers to send vital information to dispatchers, such as location coordinates or live video. This information can become lifesaving, especially for callers who are unfamiliar with their surroundings and cannot provide accurate information to receive emergency assistance quicker. The Federal Communications Commission estimates reducing dispatch time by one minute could save 10,000 lives per year.
"Smartphones have a tremendous amount of data that can help our 911 Communications staff dispatch emergency help to those in need faster, but we can't use that data without services like Carbyne," said 911 Communications Director Joe Gaudett. "Residents can now consent to sending this data to us so we can help save lives."
Stamford's 911 Communications began using Carbyne in July as part of Mayor David Martin's ongoing goal of modernizing technology services across the City.
