City Extends Test of Text-To-911 Feature

A test of texting 911 in Durham (NC) has been extended by three months to collect more data for a decision if the service should become permanent. The city, in collaboration with Intrado and Verizon Wireless, has been accepting text messages from citizens since August 2011, and routing them directly to the city’s public safety comm center for handling by dispatchers. The city has not reported on the level of success of texting 911, which is intended to help those with hearing disabilities and people who cannot directly make a voice call to 911. In a press release announcing the extension of the test period, comm center director James Soukup admitted, “There can be limitations to sending an emergency text message.” He said the city wants to thoroughly explore all the possible incident scenarios, “to see if this type of technology works and if any problems arise that must be corrected before ‘text-to-911’ technology could be implemented on a widespread level.” The press release lists several issues with text-to-911, including text messages take time to compose and transmit, only Verizon Wireless customers can text to 911 and significantly, “If customers are outside or near the edge of the county, the message may not reach the Durham Emergency Communications Center.” Read a list of all the limitations noted by the city after the break.

According to the press release –

Verizon Wireless customers in Durham should keep the following in mind if they send a text to 911 during the extended trial period:

• Customers should use the texting option only when calling 911 is not an option.
• It can take longer to receive a text message because someone must enter the text, the message then goes through the system, and the 911 telecommunicator must read the text and then text back. Picking up the phone and calling 911 is still the most efficient way to reach emergency help. Texting is not always instantaneous, which is critical during a life-threatening emergency.
• Providing location information and nature of the emergency in the first text message is imperative since the Durham Emergency Communications Center will not be able to access the cell phone location or speak with the person who is sending the text. Text abbreviations or slang should never be used so that the intent of the dialogue can be as clear as possible.
• Customers must be in range of cell towers in the Durham County area. If customers are outside or near the edge of the county, the message may not reach the Durham Emergency Communications Center .
• Texts sent to 911 have the same 160 character limit as other text messages.
• Verizon Wireless customers must have mobile phones that are capable of sending text messages. Any text message to 911 will count either against their messaging bundle or be charged at 20 cents each.
• At this point in the trial period, the messaging software pre-loaded onto the Droid from Motorola (original version) does not format text messages correctly when the digits 911 are entered as the “To”address. Installing the free “Verizon Messages” application for Droids (version 1.3.24a) from the Android Market fixes this issue.
• The texting function should only be used for emergency situations that require an immediate response from police, fire, or emergency medical services. Non-emergency issues should still be communicated to the Durham Emergency Communication Center through its non-emergency line at (919) 560-4600.

The Durham Emergency Communication Center is the first center in North Carolina, and only the second in the U.S., to allow text-to-911 messages.