New London police use new livestream capability for 911 calls

NEW LONDON, CT (WFSB) - The Channel 3 Neighborhood Crime Tracker is in New London where police have a new way to keep you and your family safe.

The police department recently added a new livestreaming capability to its 911 calls.

That feature is something folks like Richie Hanson wish had been around sooner, when he needed help.

“It was a seizure,” Hanson said. “She passed out, I had to call 911 and justifiably it was just shocking.”

His grandmother collapsed and Hanson had to call 911 for the first time in his life. He calls it a scary few moments.

Now, New London police have a new way of making calls like those a little less stressful for those involved. Dispatchers can now text a link to callers through the system ‘Prepared Live.’

Users click on the link and can send texts, pictures, even livestream video back to dispatchers like Nicholas Alvarado.

“When we’re in here we don’t get to see what the responders are seeing first-hand in real life,” Alvarado said. “While they’re responding they’re trying to paint a picture to us but that’s our job. We can now see that in real-time now with video feed so we can tell them exactly what’s going on.”

NLPD Records Sergeant Matthew Cassiere helped spearhead the program, which is free to the city.

“The biggest advantage to this is providing that medium or that avenue for people to communicate with us that we would never have before,” Cassiere said.

Not every call requires the use of the new system, which was implemented a little more than one month ago. So far, it’s been used about 50 times.

“70% of those have been successful connections so when we send the link out people are actually clicking the link and actually connecting with us,” Cassiere said.

This system gives peace of mind to people like Hanson in case he ever finds himself in an emergency situation again.

“In case anything happens like an emergency I know they’ll be out here quickly,” Hanson said.

Copyright 2023 WFSB. All rights reserved.