DENVER — As Vanessa Ursini fought off her attacker during a sexual assault Wednesday morning, she tried to get her cell phone to call for help.
"I tried to talk to my phone, you know how you can say, 'Hey Siri', but I quickly realized that it wasn't in the bag," Ursini said.
She was walking her dog on a popular trail along the South Platte River in Littleton when Ursini says a man grabbed her from behind with a rope and sexually assaulted her. She fought back and was able to escape. But, even if she managed to call 911 from her phone, would police have been able to find her?
"We talk about tens of thousands of lives every year that are lost because of location challenges," Karin Marquez, Regional Business Development Manager for RapidSOS said.
She says when someone calls 911 from a cell phone, it can take up to 20 minutes to get permission from the wireless carriers and before being given a triangulated location of the caller.
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"I was a dispatcher before and so I've lived in the world. I have so many stories where location has been an issue with callers for me," Marquez said.
Now, Marquez works with RapidSOS, a company in partnership with Apple to have the same location technology employed by companies like Uber to give 911 dispatchers instant and accurate locations of cell phone calls.
"In a panic, you can't think clearly. You can't speak clearly," Marquez said. "Location is the foundation of every 911 call. We need to know where you're at before we can send the right resource to you."
RapidSOS already launched a new 911 call assist feature with the Uber App which uses Uber's own system to deliver location information to call centers.
"Using those commercial-type location services delivering that through a pipeline and that pipeline is RapidSOS," Marquez said.
Even though social media apps and companies like Uber and Lyft have been using location software effectively, Marquez says some 911 call centers have been using old equipment under tight budgets.
"Cell phone technology changes so quickly where 911 technology might take years to change," Marquez said.
RapidSOS is working with call centers in Denver, Jefferson County, and Arapahoe County to receive enhanced information once Apple released its IOS 12 operating system for the iPhone later this year, according to Marquez.
She says these services are provided free of charge to public safety. Marquez says the costs are covered by revenue from commercial products created by RapidSOS. She truly believes once the new system is up and running, lives will be saved nationwide.
"Tens of thousands every year, absolutely," Marquez said.
