Jerusalem looks to hi-tech to protect social workers, teachers

The pilot project will connect all the city’s principals and a further 100 social workers to Carbyne’s hi-tech emergency platform, providing them with assistance in case of violence or danger.

FEBRUARY 5, 2019 14:12

Updated: FEBRUARY 6, 2019 01:02

A depiction of Carbyne's emergency response center (photo credit: CARBYNE) — A depiction of Carbyne's emergency response center

(photo credit: CARBYNE)

The Jerusalem Municipality has partnered with Tel Aviv-based emergency infrastructure start-up Carbyne to offer hi-tech protection to social workers and school principals in the city.

The pilot project, led by the municipality’s Business and Technological Development Administration, will connect all the city’s principals and a further 100 social workers to Carbyne’s hi-tech emergency platform, providing them with a smartphone panic button in case of violence or danger that will connect them directly to the municipality’s emergency hotline.

Emergency assistance is delivered through Carbyne’s innovative C-NOW application, and utilizes live video streaming to enable employees to instantly report any incident of violence, providing their precise location directly to the city emergency response center. Employees will be able to ask for rapid response and aid from municipal security staff.

The Carbyne hi-tech emergency platform. Photo: Carbyne

“The Jerusalem Municipality under my leadership will bring an end to the phenomenon of violence and serve as an example to the rest of the country,” said Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.

“With the help of innovative and advanced technologies, we will increase the social workers’ sense of security. In the coming period, we will examine the results, and I believe that violent incidents will be reduced.”

Should the pilot period be successful, the municipality plans to expand the service to all municipal staff, social workers and educators in the future. The initiative follows other municipality decisions to boost city staff security, such as increasing the number of security cameras and deploying additional security guards at social welfare offices and schools.

“We are constantly developing and introducing innovative and advanced technologies to improve municipal services and the activities of the city’s staff,” said Eitan Barzilai, director of the Jerusalem Municipality Development Administration.

“Carbyne’s service provides us with an additional dimension in increasing employees’ personal safety via technology, as well as the municipality’s ability to respond rapidly and efficiently to extreme situations, thus improving safety and security in the city.”

Founded in 2014, Carbyne is led by a team of entrepreneurs with experience from elite Israel Defense Force units. In addition to its Tel Aviv headquarters, the company has offices in the United States, Mexico and Ukraine.

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“We are delighted to work with the Jerusalem Municipality to provide social workers and school principals with an additional layer of protection and an increased sense of security as they serve the city’s residents on a daily basis,” said Roie Donskoy, VP of Sales and Business Development at Carbyne.

“We have no doubt that they will experience a change from the moment they connect to Carbyne’s system.”