LANCASTER, Wis. — The Grant County Sheriff’s Department is embracing the future by adopting a new technology called Prepared Live.
What You Need To Know
- Prepared Live allows callers to share real-time video with the dispatch center by first sending them a link via text
- Once the link is clicked, the dispatcher then gets access to the caller's camera and microphone
- The technology was first implemented at the Grant County Sheriff’s department in Nov. 2023
As technology continues to evolve, Communications Supervisor Chris Johll said he doesn’t see why his dispatch team can’t evolve with it.
“Our sheriff understood and our operations captain understood the need for it,” said Johll.
Prepared Live allows callers to share real-time video with the dispatch center by first sending them a link via text.
Once the link is clicked, the dispatcher then gets access to the caller’s camera and microphone.
Levi Vial is a dispatcher for the Grant County Sheriff’s department. He said phone privacy is still protected.
“We have no access to any other part of the phone. It is only the video and messaging that the user provides to us,” said Vial.
That video is then recorded and saved by the dispatch team. He said the only time it would get shared was in the case of an ongoing investigation.
The technology was first implemented at the Grant County Sheriff’s department in Nov. 2023.
He said he has been able to use the technology in a variety of situations.
Recently, he said a call came in about a domestic violence situation and he was able to see what was happening in real time while hiding the caller’s screen to protect them from their abuser.
“It will hide anything on the caller’s camera that makes it look like they are calling or on with someone, so if there is a situation where their safety is at risk, we can black out their screen,” said Vial.
Johll said the sheriff’s department covers a very large area. He said often it can take first responders 20 minutes to drive to an emergency situation, but with Prepared Live, his team can start helping before first responders arrive.
“For missing children, you need that picture right away, and if you can feed that out to everyone that is looking for them, it makes a big difference in that timing,” said Johll.