City Hopes More Residents Take Advantage Of Smart911 Program

In October, we told you about Tulsa's Smart911 system which is designed to help emergency responders, but the response isn't exactly what the city wanted.

When police or fire respond to a call they usually only know what's been relayed to them from 911. Sometimes that's not a lot of information when it would help to know a lot more.

That's where Tulsa's Smart911 information system can help, but not many people use it. Only 700 people have signed up for the service and added their information.

10/2/2016 Related Story: New Technology Lets Tulsans Plan Ahead In Case Of Emergency

"Let's say there's an emergency at your house, it pops up on the dispatch screen and they relay that to the officer on the scene. So it just helps out giving first responders a little knowledge before they get there to that call,” said Officer Leland Ashley.

Smart911 is a website where Tulsans can put in whatever information they'd like first responders to have. It can be simply names and phone numbers, but you can add information about pets, or medical conditions or anything that might be helpful.

Ashley said, "You can give as little as you want or as much as you like. You can add photos, vehicles, names, number of pets, but it's up to you. You could also say ‘me and my wife, we live here, that's all the information we want you to have.’"

The 911 center automatically checks the system now whenever they're called.

The police believe the system could be much more helpful if more people signed up.

There's also a benefit to 911 having your cell number if something happens at your house and you're not home, it gives them a fast way to get in touch.

You can learn more about Smart911 here.