ODMAP Technology Gives Officials Realtime Overdose Tracking
As the opioid crisis continues to claim countless lives, officials across the country are beginning to deploy sophisticated mapping technology to help track overdose “hotspots”, and be able to proactively warn communities that especially deadly batches of heroin and fentanyl are in the area.
As reported by GovTech.com, Nassau County, NY is the latest area to deploy a platform called ODMAP that allows for this type of tracking. The Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, or ODMAP, can be accessed via mobile device by police medics, firefighters, ambulance personnel as well as police narcotics investigators and supervisors. The first responders can then input the overdose data into the ODMAP app, making the information instantly available to Nassau police intelligence analysts, said acting Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder.
The instantaneous capture of the data allows police to spot trends and overlay the overdose statistics onto the department’s crime mapping system, allowing police to shift resources, Ryder said.
“We’re looking to get a solution to the problem,” Ryder said Thursday during a demonstration of the technology at police headquarters in Mineola, “and by going after this and mapping the hotspots, it will allow us to then focus on the people that need to be arrested — the dealers — and at the same time, get a reduction in our crime in the area.”
Already this year, Nassau has seen 46 non-fatal heroin or opioid overdoses and six fatal overdoses, Ryder said. Last year in Nassau there were 132 documented fatal opioid overdoses, though a final number is not yet available, pending findings in several cases from the medical examiner’s office.
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To read more about how new mapping technology is helping communities like Nassau County, NY, please visit GovTech.com.