Churchill County Sheriff | Live911 and RapidSOS
Two contracts approved through the county's E-911 committee let deputies in the field hear live 911 audio directly and pull location data from callers' devices. The larger of the two, at $199,202.60 over five years, is not discussed in any document we could read.
At a glance
- What Live911 does
- lets first responders in the field "monitor the location and audio of incoming 911 emergency" calls directly, rather than waiting for a dispatcher to relay them [2]
- Live911 cost
- $6,000 a year for base software and 5 concurrent licences, plus $1,380 one-time for remote installation and training. Total initial investment $7,380 [1]
- RapidSOS cost
- $54,840.52 in year one then $36,090.52 a year for four years. Total contract value $199,202.60 [1]
- How it was approved
- The E-911 Committee approved both contracts on 1 June 2026; the Commissioners were then asked to approve the expenditures. Funded from the E-911 Fund [1]
- Retention of 911 audio or location data, and who may replay it
- not stated in the agenda report or in the sales agreement carried in the packet [1] [2]
- Whether the county runs a real-time crime centre or a drone-as-first-responder programme
- no. The role list in the vendor's agreement mentions both, but that is the vendor describing its customers generally. "Real-time crime" appears once in 106 million characters of this county's records, inside this contract [3]
How it happened
- Decision
The E-911 committee approves both contracts
An agenda report to the Commissioners records that at its 1 June 2026 meeting the E-911 Committee approved contracts with RapidSOS and Live911 as enhancements to the 9-1-1 system, and asks the board to approve the expenditures from the E-911 Fund. [1]
Hearing the call, not the summary
When you dial 911, a dispatcher takes the call and relays what matters to the officers responding. Live911 changes that. It lets responders in the field listen to the incoming call themselves, live, along with the caller’s location.
The sales agreement in the county’s packet, between HigherGround, Inc. of Thousand Oaks, California and the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office, describes it as providing the ability for first responders and support staff “to monitor the location and audio of incoming 911 emergency” calls.
There is a real operational argument for it. Relay costs seconds and detail, and a responder who hears a caller’s voice knows things a dispatcher’s summary cannot carry. There is also a change in who hears you when you call for help, and nothing in the record says whether callers are told.
The bigger contract nobody discussed
Live911 is the smaller of the two. It costs $6,000 a year plus $1,380 to install.
RapidSOS, approved in the same breath, costs $54,840.52 in the first year and $36,090.52 a year after that, for a total contract value of $199,202.60. It supplies emergency call centres with location and device data drawn from callers’ phones and connected devices.
Both were approved by the county’s E-911 Committee on 1 June 2026 and came to the Commissioners together as an expenditure approval, funded from the E-911 Fund. We found no discussion of either in any document we could read.
What this is not
The vendor’s agreement lists who uses Live911 across its customer base: watch commanders, “UAS Operators (DFR)”, “Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) Staff”, incident commanders, emergency operations centre staff, school resource officers.
That is a vendor describing its market, not an inventory of Churchill County. We found no evidence this county runs a real-time crime centre or a drone-as-first-responder programme. The phrase “real-time crime” appears exactly once in 106 million characters of this county’s records, and it is inside this contract’s boilerplate.
It is worth naming the trap because it is an easy mistake to make in the other direction too. A standard-form contract lists everything the product can serve, and reading that list as a description of the buyer would put a crime centre in a county that has no sign of one.
What we do not know
- How long 911 audio and caller location data are retained under either contract, and who may replay them.
- What device data RapidSOS supplies alongside a call, and whether any of it persists after the call ends.
- Whether a caller is told that responders in the field, rather than only a dispatcher, are listening live.
- Why the $199,202.60 contract drew no recorded discussion.
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have confirmed where each of them meets in Churchill County and how public comment works there.
How to show up in Churchill County →Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
Surveillance Self-Defense →Sources
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