by Michael Chime
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Chime is a co-founder and the CEO of Prepared. A former Yale student and football player, Chime was selected as a Thiel Fellow in 2020. He’s passionate about the confluence of modern technology and public safety.
Who is Prepared?
Prepared is a leading provider of live video software to 911 professionals. My co-founders and I launched the company with a simple mission: improve public safety by unlocking the power of existing, widely available technologies to make emergency communications faster, more accessible, and more powerful. Currently, we help protect over 7.5 million citizens in 23 states and continue to add more every day.
What challenge is Prepared aiming to solve?
Existing consumer technology has widely surpassed that of the 911 dispatch center. For a variety of reasons, capabilities that most citizens have on their mobile devices are inaccessible for the majority of ECCs in the United States. Our goal is to change that.
80% of 911 calls originate from wireless devices and 85% of Americans own smartphones. These phones provide a number of functionalities that can aid in emergency communications but are mostly underutilized in 911 as a result of technological lag in the space. Our software, Prepared Live, gives 911 telecommunicators the ability to livestream, text, and receive other multimedia from mobile callers in real-time – for free.
By providing real-time, actionable data from callers, Prepared Live enables ECCs to more effectively and efficiently respond to emergencies and non-emergencies.
What is the Prepared Live and RapidSOS solution?
Prepared Live is integrated with RapidSOS Portal and enables ECCs to easily access:
- Live video
- Text (to and from callers after an outbound text has been initiated)
- Photo
- GPS location
911 telecommunicators are able to seamlessly transition from RapidSOS Portal to Prepared Live without the need to change screens or re-input caller data. Whether a citizen dials 911 to report a fire, a crime in progress, or a minor, non-active car accident, the dispatcher is empowered to deploy the appropriate resources by leveraging critical data provided by the caller.
Want to learn more about the Prepared Live and RapidSOS solution?
Register for our free webinar here!
Why did Prepared become RapidSOS Ready?
We joined the RapidSOS Partner Network because RapidSOS has been a leader in public safety technology for nearly a decade. RapidSOS’s national reach combined with their commitment to communities makes them an ideal partner for Prepared to extend our reach and bring Prepared Live functionality to more communities.
Our goal is to ensure that no citizen suffers because they could not utilize the full capability of their personal device. Existing technology can help save thousands of lives across the United States and we want to be the ones that make that dream a reality. Partnering with RapidSOS is a significant step in the right direction for our company and our mission.
What is Prepared looking forward to in this partnership?
We’re incredibly excited to work hand-in-hand with RapidSOS to advance public safety in the United States. As I mentioned earlier, RapidSOS has long been a leader in this space and we aim to join them. We’re proud to provide additional layers of data to ECCs that can help dispatchers and first responders save more lives.