System and method for citizen requests for assistance

A method of requesting assistance from an emergency services provider comprising the steps of:

• displaying a call button image on a touch sensitive display of a call station permanently mounted in a public location near the location of an incident requiring assistance;
• touching the call button image to initiate a call for assistance;
• reporting a type of incident by touching a corresponding type of incident descriptor that is displayed on the touch sensitive display in response to touching the call button image;
• selecting a type of assistance needed by touching a corresponding icon that is displayed on the touch sensitive display in response to touching an incident descriptor displayed on the touch sensitive display;
• and
• sending, from a central location via a communication network connected to the call station in response to selecting a type of assistance transmitted from the call station, a message confirming the request for assistance.

A security network system for communicating with emergency services providers via respective connections to the Internet, comprising:

• a data center including a web server coupled to the Internet via a client server, at least one database coupled to the web server via a streaming server, and a central controller coupled to the web server;
• and
• a plurality of citizen call stations distributed throughout an urban environment and accessible by the public via a touch-sensitive display screen included in each call station, the call stations further coupled via at least one communications interface through the Internet to the client server in the data center, wherein an incident-specific request for assistance may be initiated from any citizen call station by touching a sequence of positions on the display screen corresponding to the incident-specific requests for assistance, and transmitted automatically to an emergency service provider, followed by a confirming message transmitted to the citizen call station and displayed on the display screen;
• and
• a call center having a plurality of work stations and coupled to the web server in the data center.