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by messel 3522 days ago
Great question.

When I was a kid (11-12) I injured my neck and was pretty worried, stuck lying down, and my pop called 911 to ask for help. A neighbor two houses down was a volunteer fireman so he heard the call over the radio. He headed over and helped make my family and I much more calm while we waited for emergency professionals to show up.

Caring about the safety of people in your neighborhood is a great start. Technology playing a role feels like less of a gamble and more of an inevitability.

2 comments

That is an excellent example, but it's contrary to the examples in the blog post & video.

I'm a trained medical first responder (lapsed cert.), so I definitely can appreciate what you've stated. In fact, I'd probably react the same way as your neighbour. I'd pop out and help my fellow neighbours too.

When you present it that way, I like the idea. I'm not sure about the way Vigilante is presented though.

Was your neck injured due to a crime? Maybe target this app as a public safety tool, not a vigilante crimestopper system.

Edit: A really great angle is allowing groups of people to get notified together. Works best with phone integration. At my last company I created a 9-1-1 product that does exactly that. A user could load neighbours or relatives to be alerted and listen in to their 9-1-1 calls. That way if, say, an elderly relative called 9-1-1, nearby family could perhaps intervene (for minor stuff or cases where the caller is suffering from a mental lapse) or at least know what's going on immediately.

This is also a great value add to businesses or campuses that want to know about emergencies in real time for coordinated response. Or just to know when paramedics come in the front door, who is having the incident so they can efficiently direct them.