You may think cell phones are just for talking, but they could soon be used for tackling crime as well.
On Jan. 23, the Philadelphia City Council paved the way for a system that will allow the public to send photographs from their cell phones to 911.
The technology, known as Incident Linked Multimedia, was mentioned by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in his State of the City Address on Jan. 17, six days before the motion was proposed in Philadelphia.
The system is intended both to act as a deterrent and as a way to catch criminals.
"I'm hoping it will have a dual effect," said William Nesheiwat, legislative assistant to Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, who proposed the resolution.
Members of the public will be able to photograph criminal suspects, and the photos can then be used by police for identification purposes or in court.
Nesheiwat also said that "criminals will know anyone can be watching them," so the system should help to stop crime, not just solve it.
But despite the optimism of some City Council members, it is unclear how practical the system will actually be.
With crimes often happening in a split-second, it's not clear that potential victims will have the time or the presence of mind to whip out their phone and snap a photo.
Problems may also arise pertaining to whether photographs taken from cell phones would be admissible court, Law professor David Rudovsky said.
The technology also has yet to be implemented anywhere else, said Greg Sheehan, director of marketing at PowerPhone, one of the firms that produces Incident Linked Multimedia software.
"This is brand, brand new technology," he said.
For Penn's Division of Public Safety - which has a history of embracing innovative technology like advanced closed-circuit cameras - the product presents an interesting opportunity - but only if the company can prove the system works, said Mitch Yanak, DPS's director of PennComm Operations.
DPS "would be interested in examining its implementation and effectiveness in other cities before adopting any technology upgrades," Yanak said.
Under the system, when someone reports an incident to 911, the operator who answers their call is able to send a text message to their cell phone. The caller can then take a photo of the incident or perpetrator and send the image attached in a reply message.
There have been some examples of cell phone pictures being used to identify suspects, including after the London bombings in July 2005 and in March 2006, when a 15-year-old in New York City photographed a man exposing himself on the subway.
Howard Rye, policy planner for Councilwoman Anna Verna, emphasized that bringing this system to Philadelphia is still in its early stages; who might provide the technology here, or if a new 911 response system might be adopted by the city, is not yet known.
A hearing to evaluate the scheme's feasibility will take place during the next two months.
