As we stand on the threshold of 2025, it’s worth pausing to reflect on a transformative year for public safety. At RapidDeploy, our mission to save lives by reducing response times is not just a goal—it’s a promise. Every feature, every enhancement, and every partnership we pursued in 2024 was guided by one simple belief: we can save lives by reducing response times.
Through collaboration, innovation, and a commitment to the communities we serve, in 2024 we have worked to reshape what’s possible in emergency response. Let's explore our journey through 2024—a year of milestones, challenges, and breakthroughs—toward a safer, more connected future.
It begins in a bustling emergency communication center (ECC), where seconds can mean the difference between life and death. Here, RapidDeploy’s Radius Mapping has become the heartbeat of operations, empowering telecommunicators with a single pane of glass that seamlessly integrates location data, GIS layers, and live communications.
In early 2024, Tennessee’s Carter County faced a nightmare scenario: a string of 911 calls from an untraceable 911-only phone. The initial call was cryptic—the call disconnected, leaving telecommunicators scrambling. The address provided didn’t align with their jurisdiction, and follow-ups proved fruitless. But then, another call came in, this time mentioning the local school system and a potential shooting threat. Within moments, RapidDeploy’s Radius Mapping pinpointed the call to cell towers near the county border, setting the stage for a coordinated response
When the same phone initiated a third call, the stakes escalated. RapidDeploy’s platform mapped the location in real time to Happy Valley High School. The ECC immediately activated a full-scale lockdown, alerting school resource officers and dispatching patrol units from multiple jurisdictions. Thanks to Radius Mapping’s precise location accuracy, the suspects were apprehended, averting a potential tragedy and safeguarding thousands of students across 16 schools.
Meanwhile, in Scottsdale, Arizona, another emergency was unfolding—a potential active shooter at a local grocery store. The call volume overwhelmed the Scottsdale Police Department’s communication lines, spilling over to a neighboring agency. In a critical moment, RapidDeploy’s ECC Messaging stepped in. Through interagency chat, Scottsdale Police and their counterparts seamlessly exchanged updates, including a description of the suspect.
This rapid collaboration enabled swift decision-making and the deployment of coordinated resources, from SWAT teams to medical responders. Within hours, the scene was stabilized, and the threat was contained. Reflecting on the event, Karen Sutherland, Support Services Director at Scottsdale Police Department, remarked, “RapidDeploy’s Interagency Chat enabled us to act quickly and coordinate across teams. It’s now essential to our emergency response.”
Radius Mapping wasn’t just a tool; it was a lifeline.
The transformative power of RapidDeploy’s tools comes from the thoughtful features introduced this year:
These features collectively support how public safety agencies approach emergencies, making 2024 a year of impactful innovation within Radius Mapping.
In Kansas, first responders often work in remote areas, and for them, RapidDeploy’s Lightning Mobile app can be a trusted companion. By extending the capabilities of Radius Mapping to field responders’ smartphones, Lightning transforms the way field responders connect with the ECC and each other.
Picture this: a responder arrives at the scene of an electric vehicle crash. With a few taps on their phone, they access OnStar extrication details, enabling them to assess risks and act decisively. Moments later, they receive live updates on the nearest available resource, ensuring units are deployed where they’re needed most.
This level of precision isn’t just technology at work—it’s peace of mind for the people who rely on it.
In a world where school emergencies have become a painful reality, RapidDeploy committed itself to innovation that protects our schools and personnel. In 2024, we partnered with panic button providers and indoor mapping platforms, including Critical Response Group (CRG), Datamark, ZeroEyes, Singlewire, CrisisGo, GeoComm, and Raptor Technologies, to bring critical tools directly to ECCs and first responders.
Imagine a telecommunicator guiding a team into a school during an active threat. With the help of indoor floor plans integrated into Radius Mapping, responders know the layout of every hallway and classroom. Panic alerts pinpoint the exact location of the emergency, shaving precious minutes off response times.
These moments remind us of our responsibility—not just to innovate but to stand as a shield for communities when they need us most.
In 2024, Eclipse Analytics became the backbone of smarter, data-driven decisions for ECCs nationwide. By standardizing call data and providing instant insights, Eclipse empowers agencies to optimize staffing, identify trends, and allocate resources more effectively.
In Texas, where PSAPs can operate with limited resources, Eclipse Analytics became a game-changer. With its Normalized Call Records (NCR) framework, agencies can onboard and analyze data faster than ever before. For one supervisor, the ability to identify misrouted calls and adjust routing protocols in real-time was nothing short of transformational.
These insights are not just numbers—they’re the stories of people who made it home because PSAPS had the tools to act swiftly and decisively.
In Walton County, Florida, a telecommunicator answered a call from a frantic woman whose husband had fallen overboard. The bay was choppy, and she was drifting away in the boat from where her husband had fallen into the water. Using RapidDeploy’s RapidVideo feature, the responding telecommunicator initiated a live video stream and guided her back to her husband. He was pulled to safety just as emergency teams arrived.
In another intense emergency, Anderson County telecommunicators Derek Kennedy and Zachary Mcmillion used non-voice communication to guide students barricaded in a classroom through a high-stakes ordeal. Utilizing RapidDeploy’s Radius Mapping and Text-from-911 capabilities, they maintained a discreet line of communication with the students, providing critical instructions while avoiding detection by the threat. The platform’s precise location tracking allowed responders to pinpoint the exact classroom and coordinate with law enforcement to neutralize the situation safely. This seamless blend of technology and human expertise ensured a rapid and effective response, safeguarding the lives of everyone involved.
2024 was a year of growth, but it was also a year of innovation. We learned that the best technology doesn’t just solve problems; it listens to the needs of those on the front lines. We learned that partnerships—with schools, vehicle telematics providers, and GIS experts—are the foundation of real progress. And we learned that in every call answered, every text read, and every rescue completed, there is a story worth telling.
As we look ahead to 2025, our mission remains unchanged: to save lives by reducing response times. Together with our partners, we are building a future where every community, no matter how remote or urban, has access to the tools they need to respond faster, smarter, and with greater confidence.
The path is clear. The tools are ready. And the future of public safety has never looked brighter.
To learn more about how RapidDeploy is shaping the next generation of emergency response, visit www.rapiddeploy.com.
