Using technology, Pahlevani came up with a solution to help people report crimes easily with the push of a button.

The answer came in the form of an app for smartphones. Pahlevani’s mobile solution, called CrimePush, became available on Feb. 1 on iTunes.

According to Forbes, CrimePush puts crime reporting in the hands of users and allows people to rapidly report the details of the crime to authorities.

The app is devised to report a crime it occurs, and witnesses can send authorities texts, photos, sound and video.

Additionally, the app is said to be designed to report crimes anonymously. The concept behind the app is to allow individuals to empower themselves and help facilitate reporting crimes to law enforcement officials.

“There are often tense situations when calling the police is not an option. There are other times when inconvenience or fear of reprisal prevents one from reporting an incident,” said co-founder, Eman Pahlevani. “Featuring the ability to take a photo, record video and audio, and provide a description of the incident, citizens can now be assured that their phone has the capability to alert family, friends, and the authorities at the push of a button, should a threat arise.”

The company says this app will enable people to swiftly report crimes rather than ignore them. An example used by the company was situations where individuals witness crimes, but do not stop and take the time to report what was observed. Or, according to the CrimePush makers, “there are other times when personal security is at stake and there is no discreet method of alert.”

Using high school and college students as an example, CrimePush says this app is useful for students coming home late at night, or victimized by hazing, drug use or bullying.

“Opening a new channel via a mobile application, youth populations will be more motivated to provide crime tips and informants will have better tools utilizing a phone’s built-in technology to capture audio, image, or video evidence,” Pahlevani said.

It appears there are mixed feelings about the app between would-be users and police.

In Missouri, the St. Peters Police Department tested out the app and, according to KMOV, the results received were not what was “expected.”

“When our dispatcher downloaded the app and she entered in a complaint and pressed ‘send,’ it got lost in cyberspace somewhere,” Melissa Doss, St. Peters Police Department official, said. “There’s a connection missing and I want residents to know that this is not an app to use yet, to report any type of crime because help will not come to you.”

“I’m a big fan of its simplicity and definitely feel safer knowing that there’s a faster way to get crime reported,” said Mameeza Hossain. “It not only strengthens me, but makes me feel a lot more secure,” told WJLA.

It’s not yet as fast as dialing 9-1-1, however the app’s developers say this will be addressed as the company integrates the service with police departments. The St. Peters Police Department indicated they liked the idea, but feel “it is not ready for people to rely on.” Currently dialing 9-1-1 is the most efficient way to report, say police.

Users placed warnings on the iTunes app’s page because the app is not fully integrated with police departments. One reviewer said, “Good idea, reckless execution.” Others warned not to use the app since it is not functional.

CrimePush has added a disclaimer stating the app is not yet fully operational and makes a plea for users’ help to make this happen. The statement also says:

“By downloading this application, you understand and agree to these terms: The CrimePush application is NOT linked, NOR connected to any police, medical, or law-enforcement authority as of yet. By using this application at this time, you will not be assisted for any and all emergencies or crime-reports submitted. NO police department, medical emergency unit, or law enforcement agency will receive a distress message from this application. This is a Beta version that should ONLY be used by potential partners or clients to TEST the utility and user-friendliness of the application. should an emergency arise, you should dial 911.”

CrimePush plans to partner with high schools, law enforcement agencies, colleges and international mobile carries.

CrimePush is patent pending, and the free app can currently be downloaded on Android’s Marketplace and the iTunes store. Just keep in mind, the app is in Beta and not going to work properly at this time.

Read the story here.

Assemblywoman Norma Torres (D-Pomona) said that 911 calls should be treated the same as medical records, which cannot be released because of privacy laws.

“Everyone has the right to privacy. The unauthorized release of medical records is already illegal, medical emergency calls should also be protected,” Torres, a former 911 operator, said in a statement.

Paramedics were called to Moore’s home near Benedict Canyon on Jan. 23 after friends reported that the 49-year-old actress was convulsing, semi-conscious and “burning up” after she had “smoked something” similar to incense, according to a copy of the redacted 911 call.

“She’s been having some issues lately with some other stuff, so I don’t know what she’s been taking or not,” a friend told the 911 dispatcher.

When the dispatcher asked if Moore had “done this before,” the friend said she didn’t know. “There’s been some stuff recently that we’re all just finding out,” the friend said.

In a statement, Moore’s publicist said the actress, whose split from husband Ashton Kutcher fueled headlines in recent months, was seeking professional help.

“Because of the stresses in her life right now, Demi has chosen to seek professional assistance to treat her exhaustion and improve her overall health,” the publicist said. “She looks forward to getting well and is grateful for the support of her family and friends.”

Read the story here.

Michele Stevison, 31, who has worked at the center near Santa Cruz’s DeLaveaga Park for three years, was chosen for the statewide 911 Heroes Award for quickly summoning police while keeping a store employee calm during the June 7 incident.

Stevison took a call from the store manager, who relayed that a man had come in with power tools and began cutting the locks off racks of display weapons. The man then loaded the gun and began firing, as the manager locked herself in a glass-sided office.

Stevison said she became concerned for the manager’s safety when the man fired a shot and tried to get into the office.

“After talking to her for about 30 seconds, I knew how scared she was and that I was the person she was relying on to get her help,” Stevison said in a statement from the 911 Center. “I felt a sense of helplessness, but within seconds of officers getting on scene I was able to tell her the ordeal was over and she was safe.”

Police shot and killed the gunman, 22-year-old Robin Miranda, after he refused to drop the weapon.

Miranda struggled with paranoia and possibly schizophrenia, his family said.

Stevison, a San Lorenzo Valley resident, She credited the calm manner of the manager and her training for the successful resolution of the call.

Stevison grew up in the Boston area and remembers watching “Rescue 911″ on TV with her mother and grandmother. She said she has always been interested in law enforcement. Stevison earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Salem State College and worked previously as a preschool teacher.

The 911 Heroes Awards are sponsored by AT&T, 911 for Kids, Public Education and the National Emergency Numbers Association.

Read the story here.

“I think it’s stupid for anyone, whether they are celebrated or not.  I don’t think their 911 calls should be broadcast around the world,” George Clooney told “The Insider,” referring to the release of actress Demi Moore’s 911 call.

There are many who agree, arguing an extremely personal moment like that should not be public record.

“I think that’s 100% an invasion of privacy,” said Jamelle Tucker of Tampa.

Two years ago the Florida Legislature tried to keep 911 calls private, in part so grieving families wouldn’t have to relive the experience.

“I felt this 911 issue may be a little more far reaching than the public’s right to know, and I say that because of the sensitivity of some of the calls,” said Larry Cretul (R-Ocala), former Speaker of the House, who supported the bill.

But Tampa media law attorney Jim McGuire points out the 911 calls is made to a public agency, using public dollars.

“There have been a lot of instances in the past of 911 calls, where the dispatchers screw things up, where they don’t do their job correctly.  Those are the things we, as members of the public, have a right to know,” McGuire explained.

Others, though, fear some people may be hesitant to pick up the phone, if they know the whole world may end up hearing it.

“It might make me think twice,” Tucker said.

There are a handful of states that limit what can be released in a 911 call.

The bill in the Florida House two years ago never made it out of committee and hasn’t been brought back this year.

Read the story here.

But not everyone agrees that merging four dispatch centres would resolve communication miscues, despite a report that concludes it would.

“I’m not sold one way or the other,” Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig said. The Cambridge fire department would lose its dispatch centre in a merger.

Craig said emergencies are regularly handled without communication delays although the helicopter crash was not. “I don’t think we should overreact in terms of how to fix it,” he said.

Kitchener Fire Chief Tim Beckett is not persuaded emergency dispatchers must be put under one roof. The Kitchener fire department operates a dispatch centre that might be lost.

“I’m sold on what’s best for public safety. And that hasn’t been determined yet,” Beckett said in an interview. “I think we need to explore this in more detail.”

Pilot Tiffany Hanna died at the scene Nov. 28 when her two-seater helicopter fell into a drainage pond at the Region of Waterloo International Airport. A flight student was badly injured but survived.

An official crash report confirmed that 911 dispatchers told police the exact crash location but mistakenly waited up to 12 minutes to tell firefighters and paramedics.

After reviewing the rescue, retired Waterloo Regional Police chief Larry Gravill has concluded the solution lies in merging police, fire and ambulance dispatchers, to better share information and technology.

Responding Tuesday, regional councillors voted to push for a streamlined dispatch system that could be funded in 2013. Dispatch centres are operated by three municipal governments and the province.

“It’s not as simple as it sounds, just taking all the dispatch centres and plopping them into one location,” Beckett cautioned. “There are governance issues, there are labour issues, there are technology issues, there are financial issues that need to be explored.

“We’ve got to be mindful that there are several organizations involved in this and that those organizations need to have that input and make sure that we’re heading in the direction that’s best for public safety.”

A possible alternative would be to have emergency dispatchers share technology at different sites. That’s not Gravill’s ideal outcome.

“These groups work so well together as a team on the ground at an event,” he said. “It just makes sense to me that that same team of people who would dispatch them, who would convey information, ought to be co-located in the same room.”

Read the story here.

“Sometimes, the worst part of a shift is the drive home when the adrenaline is coming off,” said Larry Booze, who joined the Franklin County Department of Emergency Services 2 1/2 years ago.

The county commissioners commended Booze and fellow dispatcher Timothy Mowen for a pair of calls they handled recently.

Booze, 36, of Fort Loudon, Pa., guided a caller through the steps of cardio pulmonary resuscitation on Dec. 10, 2011.

Mowen, 29, of Greencastle, Pa., helped a caller and his wife deliver their baby on Dec. 8, 2011.

“I thought it would be standard, and the ambulance would come and take them to the hospital,” Mowen said.

However, the call unfolded differently, as the baby was safely delivered within four minutes. Emergency medical technicians arrived on the scene shortly afterward.

When an EMS crew arrived to Booze’s call, it used a defibrillator and medication to restore the victim from what was cardiac arrest to a normal heart rhythm.

The commissioners signed letters for Booze and Mowen, both of whom said they entered their field because of their experiences as firefighters.

“I’m proud to be associated with you,” Commissioner Bob Ziobrowski said.

“I think it’s pretty obvious the additional training and requirements for dispatchers is paying dividends,” Commissioner Bob Thomas said.

Mowen, who has been employed by the department for a year and a half, and Booze said the public sometimes does not realize one dispatcher can help a caller while another is contacting emergency responders.

“We belong to them until the call is ended,” Booze said.

The Franklin County Department of Emergency Services is now offering CPR classes, Director Dave Donohue said. Anyone interested in learning more can call 717-264-2813, he said.

Read the story here.

ALACHUA COUNTY, FL — Amid the chaos and confusion of the Sunday morning crashes on Interstate 75 was the calm, reassuring voice of a teenager coming from the Combined Communications Center.

A recording of a 911 call, released by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, demonstrates the composure that 19-year-old rookie call-taker Leslie Edvalson showed as the horrific incident unfolded.

Edvalson answered one of the first calls made to 911 about the crashes that began around 4 a.m. as the freeway was shrouded in smoke and fog. For nearly 13 minutes, she listened and encouraged two or three women who took turns talking on the cellphone to describe what they could hear from their vantage point in the dark.

As the call continued, Edvalson heard what sounded similar to gunshots but were actually vehicle crashes happening ahead of, behind and beside the women.

“At first when they called, I thought it wouldn’t be a big incident because I thought I-75 was still closed,” Edvalson told The Sun on Tuesday. The women had told her their car hit a guard rail and they had no significant injuries, but they could not see anything because of the smoke.

Based on her six months of training and seven months of experience, Edvalson thought the women would be safest remaining in their vehicle.

Then, as the crashes could be heard happening around them — probably once every minute or so — Edvalson realized the women might be safer getting out of their vehicle.

“The worst part about it was being so helpless,” Edvalson said. “I was the one who needed to tell them what to do, but they would be in danger no matter what I told them to do. There was no safe place to send them.”

Throughout it all, Edvalson remained calm, reminding the women that help was on the way and encouraging them to provide as many details as they could. Those details allowed others inside the 911 center to determine what types of crews to send to the scene and what to tell the emergency workers to expect when they got there.

It was the second grueling call of the overnight shift for Edvalson. She also took a call a couple of hours earlier from a person in an SUV that became entrapped under a semi truck on I-75.

“I was OK during the calls,” Edvalson said. “I think that was because the training is amazing for this job.”

She also credited the women on the other end of the line during the call.

“I was so impressed how well they kept it together while this was all happening around them, and they didn’t hang up the phone,” Edvalson said. “Sometimes people will just panic and hang up.”

The identities of the callers had not been released by authorities on Tuesday.

The stress debriefing at the end of Edvalson’s shift on Sunday morning was also helpful.

“We sat in a circle and everybody got to say what they went through,” Edvalson said. “Then, I went home. That’s when I cried.”

Edvalson has no plans to make a career out of helping people in crisis. She really wants to go into musical education, but for now she is happy she followed the footsteps of an older sister and brother.

Big sister Sarah Boyett spent eight years working in the communications center. Big brother Dallin Edvalson has been employed by the center for two to three years.

Read the story here.

Seconds later, she heard pounding at another door, then pounding at the front door — followed by the loud cracking sound of the door jamb breaking apart.

“I could definitely hear that the door had opened,” she said.

By that time, both Skoubo and her husband, Jesse — who’s a photographer for the Gazette-Times — had grabbed their cell phones. Jesse Skoubo dialed 911, and the two waited in the bedroom for police to arrive. They remained on the phone with the dispatch center as they heard footsteps and someone rifling through the nearby bathroom’s medicine cabinet.

The Skoubos did a smart thing by punching 911 into the phone as soon as they suspected they were being burglarized, said Cord Wood, a spokesman for the Corvallis Police Department – in fact, that’s the first thing people should do in that event, police said.

“It’s always advisable to have emergency help on the way to you as quick as possible,” Wood said. “You never know if it’s one person or a group of people on the other side of the door.”

Oregon law does allow a resident to use physical force against a trespasser if the resident suspects that the trespasser intends to commit a violent crime. As Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson phrased it: “If you’re facing deadly force, you can use deadly force.”

Police identified the person who entered the Skoubo house as Corey James Downs, 20, of Coos Bay. He’s a junior studying bioengineering at Oregon State University. Police found Downs running away from the house when they arrived. After stopping him and searching his pockets, they discovered three items of jewelry worth about $20, two pairs of manicure scissors and an empty bottle of cold medicine — items that the Skoubos identified as theirs.

Downs’ blood-alcohol level was .22 percent. Downs was arrested and arraigned Monday on charges of first-degree burglary — a class-A felony — second-degree criminal mischief and third-degree theft.

There is good news on the burglary front, though: After a recent spike, the total number of burglaries reported in Corvallis (including this one) appears to be declining back to historical averages.

From Jan. 1 through Jan. 30, Corvallis police took reports of 11 first-degree burglaries — break-ins at residences — and 10 second-degree burglaries — break-ins to businesses and garages or sheds not attached to a residence. Wood noted that some of the residential burglaries might have occurred during in December but were reported by students when they returned from winter break in January.

Only two of the 11 residences burglarized had unlocked front doors.

“That’s down significantly from what we were dealing with for the last few months,” Wood said.

And that total number of 21 thus far in January is close to the average that Corvallis police noted in 2011, when they received an average of 22 burglaries per month.

But determining the location can be a challenge for not only the caller but the dispatcher. The morning of the casino collapse, which injured 13 and launched an OSHA investigation, multiple calls flooded Cincinnati Emergency Communications. One unidentified dispatcher had a harder time than others locating the casino.

911 transcript:

Dispatcher: “9-1-1, what’s the address of your emergency?”

Caller: “Casino, Horseshoe Casino, big floor fell down, we got eight guys down.”

Dispatcher: “Okay sir.”

Caller: “Downtown Cincinnati.”

Dispatcher: “Alright. What’s the location?”

Caller: “Downtown Cincinnati, Horseshoe Casino. We got eight guys down, pinned underneath beams and everything else, dude we need them bad.”

Dispatcher: “Okay, what’s the location where the Horseshoe Casino is sir?”

Caller: “It’s downtown. Wait a minute, what street are we on?”

Caller: “Gilbert. Gilbert Ave.

Dispatcher: “Uh-huh.”

Caller: “What else? What other road are we on? By the Justice Center.”

Dispatcher: “Okay. Gilbert and Court Street and what? I’m not sure sir.”

Cincinnati’s Emergency Communications Manager, Joel Estes, says he is not surprised the dispatcher did not know the exact location and does not expect employees to know all the cross streets at a major location like the casino.

“I don’t know it’s necessarily an issue of them not knowing where the casino is but it’s such a large area there’s so many ways to access that area,” says Estes.

Dispatchers do undergo an intense testing and training period ranging from six to nine months before fielding their first 911 call.

Despite a lack of staff, the communications center was fully staffed the morning of the collapse and were able to get Cincinnati Police and Fire to the scene as quickly as possible.

“The good thing for the dispatchers were they didn’t necessarily know what the address was but by them putting it out over the air right away where the casino was, we knew where it was and we can start heading that way,” says Cincinnati Fire District Chief Greg Potter.

Read the story here.

Tyrus Jenkins, 12, is credited with sounding the alarm at about 4:25 p.m., said his father, Tyson Jenkins.

All the building’s occupants, about a dozen in total, were evacuated safely. Tyrus was taken to Reid Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, but his father expected him to be OK.

Another child, 2-year-old Natalia Gipson, was treated at the scene for smoke and asthma, said her mother, Amber Qualls, but Natalia didn’t go to the hospital.

All the residents were displaced for the night and were provided shelter by the American Red Cross of Wayne and Union Counties.

The majority of the damage was confined to the Jenkins’ first-floor apartment, 117 S. 12th St., and caused about $30,000 in damages, said Richmond Fire Department Battalion Chief Bob O’Neil. Other apartments, 1171/2, 119 and 1191/2, received smoke damage.

O’Neil said that the fire started in the middle bedroom of the Jenkins apartment when something — possibly a pillow or a piece of clothing — fell on top of a baseboard heater and ignited.

“It just blazed up,” Tyson Jenkins said. “It’s gone, everything in there. It’s torched.”

Jenkins said he, his son and his daughter, Havana Jenkins, 3, had lived in the apartment awhile. Havana was away from home with her mother when the fire started.

Jenkins had just checked by phone on his son, who was in his bedroom doing his homework when he noticed smoke and fire coming from his sister’s bedroom.

“He’s a hero,” Tyson Jenkins said. “He saved everybody today. Thank God nobody got hurt.”

Amber Qualls said she left the house about 15 minutes before the fire began. Her mother, Karen Qualls, called her after escaping with Natalia from their second-floor residence.

“I was very scared,” Amber Qualls said.

She said her apartment, 1191/2, smelled really bad and a light socket in the bathroom was blackened, but everything else was OK.

Amber Qualls is concerned about the smoke in her apartment and her family’s health. She said it might be several days before her family can move back in because Natalia has asthma and her mother has seizures that can be triggered by strong odors like smoke.

O’Neil said that building owner Richard Anderson has other apartments that he might make available to the building’s occupants.

Read the story here.