Why We Need To Protect Each Other
The emergency grid needs an upgrade: Us.
The world of 2017 is becoming an increasingly frightening place. Many are feeling anxious and unsafe.
But most people think that if they ever get into serious trouble, all they need to do is dial 911.
The truth is: you’re not nearly as well-protected as you think you are. If you have never actually dialed 911 yourself, you don’t know how terrible it really is.
In Los Angeles, the average emergency response time is three hours.
And most people don’t realize that 911 operators have no idea where you are. Even if you call from a mobile phone, no GPS location data is transmitted.
[Edit: Since I published this, some have made the point that the E911 standard ‘fixes’ the location issue and that, in fact, GPS data IS transmitted. However, this is so poorly and unevenly implemented that in 95% of cases, 911 operators still cannot locate you. This remains a massive problem: Uber is better at locating you than 911.]
Because of bureaucratic hurdles, this situation cannot be fixed for six years — at a minimum. John Oliver did a bit on this a few months back:
Here’s a visualization of what we’re dealing with today. We’re essentially flying blind, and not coordinating help efficiently at all:
By the way: None of this is meant to disparage the brave men and women in professional emergency response! They’re doing their heroic best. But at present, they are forced to deal with a woefully antiquated system that was invented during the era of landlines.
Nevertheless. This is unacceptable. We can do better.
To fix this, we need two things:
- A new culture of mutual protection. A commitment to be there for friends, family and neighbors when something bad happens, no matter what. We agree to drop whatever we’re doing and take immediate action when called upon. We are each other’s first responders.
- Tools to empower this new culture: An open emergency network that we can all tap into — both to issue Alerts and respond to the Alerts of others. Of course, you have full control over who has permission to Alert you (and this includes professional emergency response as well).
This is exactly what we’re building with Guardian Circle. It’s a full reboot of the emergency grid worldwide. Guardian Circle provides a sort of “grassroots 911” accessible to everyone, anywhere in the world.
(Get Guardian Circle app — available now for iOS and Android.)
Think about how you would build 911 today if you were starting from scratch. What would it be like?
You would want a more data-rich response solution — something that looks more like this:
To facilitate this ‘smart response’, you would need to create a cloud-based ‘emergency intelligence grid’. It would have the characteristics of being:
- Mobile-native
- Location-aware
- Integrated with myriad devices via an open API
- Alerts could be triggered in a variety of ways: Alexa voice interfaces, mobile apps, laptops, bluetooth jewelry devices, fitbits / smartwatches, in-car voice systems, sub-dermal chips, etc.
- These devices might decide on their own that you need help via fall detection, irregular heartbeat, crossing the threshold of a geofence (i.e., “grandpa just wandered off”), etc.
- Scales from full-blown emergencies to smaller or ‘slow motion’ urgent situations (i.e.: you’re scared on a Tinder date or you’re having a migraine ‘aura’)
- Scales from ‘peer-to-peer’ protection to professional emergency response
So imagine this exists. Now, imagine that when you’re in trouble, you no longer dial 911. Instead, you push a device button or verbally shout out: “Alexa, help!”.
Immediately, the ‘emergency intelligence grid’ kicks into action.
It quickly sends push notification Alerts to many, many people and devices simultaneously: Professional emergency response. Your friends. Your family. You neighbors. Nearby EMT’s. Nearby ‘Good Samaritans’. Private security.
Why so many? Because a “call for help” should not just go to a centralized call center. That’s inefficient when seconds count. And that doesn’t utilize the help that is already near you.
For many situations, your network is probably closer and can help you fastest.
As your responders start answering your Alert, they enter an Alert Room app on their mobile phone or desktop. This shows them:
- Your location
- Your photo and any other information you’ve provided (allergies, etc.)
- The location(s) of responding friends, family and neighbors
- The location of professional response
- Audio streaming from the Alert location
- A text chat room
In under 30 seconds, everyone knows where everyone else is. And everyone can communicate. So now they can come up with the best way to help you fast — whether your responders knew each other beforehand or not.
And this is the important part: organizing the response team.
This is the ‘second half’ of the problem — and a lot of people forget about this.
Just enabling an ‘electronic scream for help’ is not good enough! You must also provide a tactical situation map and communications for everyone involved in helping.
Your responders need to know where all the other responders are right now. They need to talk to each other — as well as to you.
What might they discuss? How about:
Which of them is nearest to you? Who knows CPR? Who has a key to your front door? Who knows the combination to your gate? Who knows your allergies? Which of them should call the cops while someone else takes you to the hospital? Who will watch your kids or pet? Who should get the medicine you forgot at work? Who will go to the hospital with you to act as your advocate and deal with your insurance? Who ‘knows’ your German Shepherd and can enter your house safely without being attacked?
Providing the ability for responders to communicate with each other is just as important as sending the Alert itself.
Guardians, Not ‘Emergency Contacts’
A list of emergency contacts is not good enough. And a simple ‘electronic scream for help’ via text message when someone hits a panic button is not good enough either.
Remember: organizing the response is the second half of the problem.
To do this effectively, it’s important that there be a formal ‘ask’ of Guardianship. This is a new social graph, yes, but it’s not Facebook. This is a deeper connection. The ‘ask’ of Guardianship is a big deal, a sacred bond.
I’m trusting you with my life, and you’re trusting me with yours.
Once we’re connected as Guardians — and permissions pre-granted in the system — the emergency intelligence grid can perform all kinds of routing and fast-connecting and fast-sharing of vital information.
It can even make assumptions: If the situation calls for it, it can escalate my Alert to my second degree Guardians, most of whom I’ve never met, but I trust completely. Why? Because someone I trust deeply has in turn trusted this person with their life.
And, of course, we should have a way to formally disconnect from each other’s Alert networks should our relationship change.
The Rest Of The World
Of the 7 billion of us on planet Earth, only 3 billion have some form of 911. So more than half of humanity has no magic phone number they can dial when things go truly south.
But. But. ALL of them have phones.
In the most remote jungles and amidst even the most destitute poverty — somehow, everyone seems to have a phone.
If we provide them with an emergency intelligence grid, they can band together to create a rudimentary grassroots 911 right now. They can protect each other.
They can create ‘flash mobs of help’ whenever any one of them is in trouble.
In India, women’s safety has become a serious problem. When a woman is sexually assaulted and calls the police, too often, the police will come — and assault her as well.
The answer, then, is not ‘more police’.
To help solve this problem, the XPRIZE Foundation has announced the Anu and Naveen Jain Women’s Safety XPRIZE.
The aim of the Prize is to foster deep innovation in creating ‘panic button’ devices that are very low cost, very small, and can operate over long ranges.
Guardian Circle has partnered with the XPRIZE Foundation to help make this a reality. XPRIZE contestants will build competing hardware devices, and Guardian Circle will provide the emergency intelligence grid via an API to handle any Alerts these devices generate.
The idea here is to allow families and friends protect women directly. Give them the ability to direct a ‘flash mob of help’ when and where it is needed. There will also be a ‘Good Samaritan’ component where vetted community volunteers can go ‘on duty’ to respond to any Alerts in their vicinity.
We All Have Emergencies
At some point, everyone reading this will have an emergency. It is mathematical certainty. It’s going to happen.
In that moment, whatever app or device you use to generate you own ‘flash mob of help’ will be the most interesting and the most valuable app or device you’ve ever had in your possession. I promise you! All thoughts of Tweeting or Pokemon Go will leave your mind entirely.
But hopefully, before this happens, you’ll have long ago taken to heart ‘Why We Need To Protect Each Other’. Maybe you’ll have responded to several Alerts yourself and even saved a few lives.
And now, all that good karma you’ve built up will be coming back to you. Now it’s just your turn to reap the huge benefits of such a culture and the infrastructure that powers it.
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Mark Jeffrey is the CEO and Co-Founder of Guardian Circle, Inc. The Guardian Circle Personal Safety Network app is now available for iOS and Android worldwide. Guardiancircle.com
