Citizen crime-fighting just got a little more high-tech. From The New York Times:

“If you see a crime in progress or a dangerous building condition, you’ll be able to transmit images to 911, or online to nyc.gov,” [New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg] said in his annual State of the City address. “And we’ll start extending the same technology to 311 to allow New Yorkers to step forward and document nonemergency quality of life concerns, holding city agencies accountable for correcting them quickly and efficiently.”

Well, well, well. Isn’t that positively space age? The mayor emphasized that the new feature will not require new technology, but will use existing tech adapted for 911 use.

“Imagine someone caught in a hostage situation transmitting pictures or video,” he added. “It’s just an incredible amount of information that can be gathered from fairly simple technology.”

We’re all Batman now. —MEGHANN MARCO

Plan Will Allow 911 and 311 Lines to Accept Digital Images [New York Times] [Photo: moriza]

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