Imagine that when you heard the intruder break into your home, you had just enough time to grab your cellphone and dive under a bed. If you had called 9-1-1, you might have revealed your presence and risked your life.
On Tuesday, April 7, the Chester County Commissioners and officials from the Department of Emergency Services (DES) held a press conference to announce an alternative to that harrowing scenario: the availability of texting to 9-1-1.
Although Chester County is the first county in southeastern Pennsylvania to introduce the service, DES Director Robert Kagel said neighboring counties would add it soon.
County officials were joined by Peggy Gusz, executive director of the Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County, Inc., and Beth Lockard, pastor of Christ the King Deaf Church, which serves the area’s deaf and hard of hearing residents. Potential crime victims would not be the only beneficiaries, they said.
“By adding a Text to 9-1-1 option, we’re providing equal access to emergency services for residents with hearing and speech disabilities,” said Chester County Commissioners’ Chairman Terence Farrell. “However, our clear message for this new service is ‘call if you can, text if you must’.”
Gusz said she could envision many situations in which victims of domestic violence or burglary could receive “a certain measure of security” by having the texting lifeline. “This is a wonderful service and a great relief to many,” Lockard added.
Kagel explained that 9-1-1 texts take longer to process than voice calls, and the location accuracy is not as precise as voice calls from a wireless phone. In fact, until the service is available in other counties, people close to county borders may have their texts picked up by a cell tower in the other county, he said. If that happens, they’ll receive a response that texting isn’t available.
He also noted that while any phone is capable of connecting with 9-1-1, phones must have active contracts that include texting to utilize the technology. Most importantly, it should be viewed as an option only when a phone call would be dangerous or impossible, he said.
The only exception would be video phones, Kagel said, explaining that texting in an emergency would be a better alternative since a sign-language interpreter would be needed for the video call.
Kagel said an agreement was reached nationally among the four wireless carriers – AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon – to provide a nationwide SMS Text to 9-1-1 service in December 2012. Chester County conducted research and signed an agreement with TeleCommunications Systems (TCS) in February. The service is provided at no cost to the county, Kagel said.
He said two-thirds of the approximate 775 calls a day the 9-1-1 center receives come from cellphones. Until the Federal Communications Center mandates that carriers provide text locations, calling 9-1-1 will be more efficient since the dispatcher receives data on the caller’s whereabouts.
To illustrate how the 9-1-1 texting works, Kagel handed his cellphone to Farrell, who sent a text to Shana Howard, a dispatcher sitting at a computer screen right next to him. “I’m trapped,” he typed. Seconds later, Howard asked for more information about the emergency, such as where he was.
“I’m at home. There are people here; I’m hiding,” he responded, an exchange that took several minutes.
“There are inherent delays,” Kagel acknowledged. But when a phone call can’t be placed, texting offers a good alternative, he said.
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