The city of Baltimore has selected NWN Carousel as its private sector partner for the city’s $6.5 million investment in a next-generation public safety program. NWN Carousel, a cloud communications service provider, will help the city deploy a “911-in-a-Box” hybrid work experience for public safety agents tasked with taking 1.3 million calls per year.
In a press release, the city said the next-generation 911 system will be equipped with AI-based technology – including automatic text translation of 140 languages and robust geo-mapping – which can dramatically reduce emergency response times by up to 90 percent, while eliminating the need to engage a live translator.
In addition to improving response times, the city said NWN Carousel will also provide the city’s 911 system with improvements to security to prevent cyberattacks.
“The ability to communicate immediately with Spanish speakers and other non-English speaking callers of our ever-growing diverse community will provide a new comfort level for Baltimore citizens who may have been reluctant to call 9-1-1 in the past because they felt that we would not understand them,” said Tenea Reddick, the city’s 9-1-1 Director.
The cloud-based technology will allow emergency call specialists the flexibility to work from anywhere, including the city’s 25 mobile command posts. The city government said it would also use the mobile units to create educational awareness for Baltimore’s emergency call system with students and other community members.
Funding for the project was provided by the state of Maryland.
