TEXT 911 instead of calling, it is quicker

[ScanWI]

New York -- Texting is quick and easy and most cellphone users prefer it to making voice calls -- among the reasons law enforcement officials are taking steps to include texting in "Next Generation 911.

911 May Soon Allow Texts, Photo Messages - TheStreet

 

[tampabaynews]

I think this could be useful in certain applications.

I would see this being a perfect solution if a caller is unable to speak (mute, home invasion, kidnapping). But for other instances I see text communication between 911 and a caller causing delays in gathering pertinent information. Also I don't think 911 wouldn't be able to get the GPS location of a caller through text messages.

Sending pics and video of crimes in progress may come in handy for evidence later on. But I don't think it's practical to expect witnesses to shoot and send content before units arrive, especially video. Now, streaming video would definitely be useful.

 

[ScanWI]

I really only think this would work is with a form with mandatory fields.

 

[Jay911]

Since text messaging goes through the telco's "servers" and not directly onto the telephone switching network, you are correct that location info would not be provided. My gut feeling is it would be about as useful as an email or shouting "Help come quick!" at a passing ambulance, fire truck, or police car.

 

[Quickcall]

Oh my. Too many flaws to count.

 

[sc800]

I was told in my dispatcher training class, that the text message to 911 program will, without a question, move ahead. The reasoning is because it has the support of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, and thus the American's with Disabilities Act

 

[OCO]

Sample text to 911:
hlp hlp hlp lk omg hes gng to kll m.........................................

Best idea since putting CBs in dispatch centers in the 70's... Better idea - 911 Facebook pages, then you can Friend 911 when you need help. Or maybe have 911 centers follow everyone's Twitter feeds. Ya know, I'm really a technology guy, as most of around RR are, but why does every new fad become the hammer for every nail in the world. Take the money that this mandate will cost and use it to improve some of the holes in existing technology (just sayin', ya know)..

edit: Uhh filling out forms with a 12 key phone might be a challenge...

 

[OCO]

This really could be an evolution of the current TDD service. Rather than force telcos and every 911 center to set up another service, why not set up central relay centers. Think of how OnStar handles 911 calls now, acting as a relay point. Since a texting system is not going to contain location information anyway, where the relay system resides becomes less significant..

 

[Thayne]

New York -- Texting is quick and easy and most cellphone users prefer it to making voice calls -- among the reasons law enforcement officials are taking steps to include texting in "Next Generation 911.

911 May Soon Allow Texts, Photo Messages - TheStreet

That's funny. It seems to me that most adults hate it. It does have it's place in the scheme of things, but what if it doesn't fit OUR scheme---?

 

[gewecke]

Since text messaging goes through the telco's "servers" and not directly onto the telephone switching network, you are correct that location info would not be provided. My gut feeling is it would be about as useful as an email or shouting "Help come quick!" at a passing ambulance, fire truck, or police car.

I would think a text that comes across the console to a "tc" such as " my name is sam I am at 1234 problem st. in troublesville. Someone is breaking my door down stairs and I don't want them to hear me! I need help!!
My phone number is 555-1111"

A message as clear and urgent as this will get a prompt response.
The technology, training and equipment is available so what the hell would the problem be??
I would support emergency texting in a heartbeat.
In a tactical or potentially violent scenario, this might be the only way to summon help.

73,
n9zas

 

[N9NRA]

I have to wonder just how they`ll set up the PSAP`s Public Saftey Answering Points) for this (texting 911 instead of calling), feeling i get is unless they somehow get the software thingy right it`ll be a real mess. Remember that a picture/vidieo message, while not all that big, is still data, and there`ll need to be a way for the dispatcher to see the pic or vidieo that`s sent by the "caller" (for lack of a better discriptive ). Now a text is a bit different, and yes, i could see that working, in therory it would just be displayed on the screen as text, again, ya would have to set the software up to properly recieve it, should be intresting to see how this shakes out. N9NRA

 

[tampabaynews]

I would think a text that comes across the console to a "tc" such as " my name is sam I am at 1234 problem st. in troublesville. Someone is breaking my door down stairs and I don't want them to hear me! I need help!!
My phone number is 555-1111"

A message as clear and urgent as this will get a prompt response.
The technology, training and equipment is available so what the hell would the problem be??
I would support emergency texting in a heartbeat.
In a tactical or potentially violent scenario, this might be the only way to summon help.

73,
n9zas

That would be nice if everyone were intelligent and composed enough to send all necessary information off the bat... but let's be realistic...

You get people using non-GPS enabled and out of service Metro PCS phones yelling "SEND THE PO-LICE" and hang up, expecting you to know what's going on and where they are. I had one call where the complainant spouted off everything I need without having to ask a single question, and that was a fellow dispatcher. Also know the EMD folks have to ask a lot more questions than in order to ascertain the right medical response AND provide accurate pre-arrival instructions to the caller.

I had one lady call me a racist when I asked if the suspect was "white, black or hispanic." Another caller refused to give me her location because "you can trace me, I seen it on CSI." I couldn't imagine dealing with these people via text message...

I'm not saying it wouldn't be useful in emergencies where the complainant needs to keep quiet (and TDD emergencies), but other than those situations, I see it delaying the flow of pertinent information. This would be especially true with larger agencies that have call-takers and dispatchers as separate jobs, and texting would add more time to the flow process.

As long as we educate people to only text 911 if you have to stay quiet, then it will serve it's purpose. But just saying "Hey you can text 911 instead," you're going to get people using it when they don't need it and would get a quicker response by voice.

I can also imagine all the prank texts and the single "help me" texts that we can't do anything about because there's no GPS information. Most cell phone carriers won't give out the subscriber address until you fax a report form signed by a supervisor, proving that there is a legitimate life or death emergency. Good luck with that.

 

[OCO]

I would think a text that comes across the console to a "tc" such as " my name is sam I am at 1234 problem st. in troublesville. Someone is breaking my door down stairs and I don't want them to hear me! I need help!!
My phone number is 555-1111"

A message as clear and urgent as this will get a prompt response.
The technology, training and equipment is available so what the hell would the problem be??
I would support emergency texting in a heartbeat.
In a tactical or potentially violent scenario, this might be the only way to summon help.

73,
n9zas

Well, heck I didn't realize it was all that simple..I guess I missed the part where all the issues were resolved like - who is that help message texted to? It's kinda of hard knowing which of the approximately 25000 primary PSAPs to route it to without a valid destination and "911" isn't gonna work. So your textor better also have a known tx number to text to - which blows away the "dial 911 anyplace in the USA" concept. And the fact your message was too long for the 160 character SMS limit, so, depending on which provider the phone is connected to, the message could be rejected or broken into pieces - delivered to a (TC?) who is already dealing with phones, radios, computer inquiries....Plus any widely seen event is going to create the same mass 911 cell jams that happen now, but would result in flooding of SMS text messages for the dispatcher to sort out. I can already envision the stink when a valid call for help gets buried in 999 messages from drivers on I-10 that just saw an armadillo get hit and wanted to just let Animal Control know about it .

I know that any ADA issue is viewed as "mom, apple pie and the flag" issue, but from dealing with them in the past, a key phrase is "reasonable accommodation". As suggested previously, give the hearing impaired a modernized TDD system that includes SMS and even SMTP so they aren't tied to a TDD terminal. Why force every 911 center in the country to upstaff, add equipment dedicated to getting SMS messaging and bump taxes again so that every "what if" possibility in the world is covered.

N9NRA - obviously I overlapped some of your thoughts - I was offline for about an hour and typed my thoughts during that time ....

 

[902]

Mixed feelings.

It's NOT about ADA, although those served by ADA will benefit from the service rather than carrying a TTY device with them.

The movement for NG9-1-1 revolves around a number of things. First, remote notification of critical events. Automatic Crash Notifications (ACN) are part of this and are currently production in OnStar. Industry insiders also speculate that this can fuse with medicine and nanotechnology to "call 9-1-1" for EMS response when a heart goes into dysrhythmia, blood glucose levels go out of tolerance for consciousness (on either end of the scale), etc. But the biggest (and lamest) reason I hear for doing NG9-1-1 is to resonate with Gen-Y and successor generations. Back in the day (I'm dating myself here), the Telephone Pioneers came into first grade classrooms and taught kids how to dial "Operator." More contemporary programs taught them to dial 9-1-1 (and wasn't mommy surprised when the police car pulled into the driveway after Junior tried it at home). But we've failed to teach young people that their texting devices have this thing called a voice telephone, with a speaker to listen through and a microphone to speak into. So, we push technology (which isn't necessarily bad) without having an intact funding strategy. Given today's austere environment, and "no new taxes" with some jurisdictions having a declining tax base and some sunsetting their funding provisions, the burden of paying for technological nifties rests on the 9-1-1 ETSB (or local equivalent) instead of the proponent industry. In fact, the proponent industry runs away from its funding obligations, but doesn't fail to capitalize on marketing it's networks' ability to get you help when you need it.

It's also my opinion that, even though SMS may be geotegged somehow, that the "9-1-1 industry" will find a way to make it the tenuous house of cards that wireless Phase II has become, with this one doing database, that one doing connectivity, like a tree with twine strung between the branches connecting everything... only to provide a 1.2 kbps data spill after a CAMA number (policy limitations, not technological limitations). The motto of the industry? Everyone gets paid.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. It will happen because, absent education, it becomes the de facto standard of care within the community.

 

[sc800]

Another problem with the SMS 911 would be timely notification. When the 911 center sends me text messages of the calls in my district, which is supposed to happen as soon as the dispatcher enters the unit status of "paged-awaiting response" into CAD; occassionally I don't get those messages until 45 minutes later.

Imagine if someone texts 911, and it doesn't show on the screen until 45 minutes later.

Also, there is a major cost unit. Apparently one SMS receiver unit costs around $400,000, and some states are already telling the dispatch centers "You're on your own"

 

[N0BDW]

Another problem with the SMS 911 would be timely notification. When the 911 center sends me text messages of the calls in my district, which is supposed to happen as soon as the dispatcher enters the unit status of "paged-awaiting response" into CAD; occassionally I don't get those messages until 45 minutes later.

Just a quick +1 to this. Many of them I don't get at all. Pager goes off, but not the phone.

I like getting them on the phone because I can just tap on the address and it'll open up Google Maps. They just aren't reliable. With 911 service, reliability is much more important than the "cool" or "convenience" factor, which is why I still carry the pager.

 

[n5ims]

I would think a text that comes across the console to a "tc" such as " my name is sam I am at 1234 problem st. in troublesville. Someone is breaking my door down stairs and I don't want them to hear me! I need help!!
My phone number is 555-1111"

A message as clear and urgent as this will get a prompt response.
The technology, training and equipment is available so what the hell would the problem be??
I would support emergency texting in a heartbeat.
In a tactical or potentially violent scenario, this might be the only way to summon help.

73,
n9zas

But most messages will be something like "911 911 now now pls hury".

 

[Jay911]

But most messages will be something like "911 911 now now pls hury".

From my experience, most messages will be "999999P;L(IK,^^^^6{" because people will be sitting on their phone's keypad......

 

[gewecke]

That would be nice if everyone were intelligent and composed enough to send all necessary information off the bat... but let's be realistic...

You get people using non-GPS enabled and out of service Metro PCS phones yelling "SEND THE PO-LICE" and hang up, expecting you to know what's going on and where they are. I had one call where the complainant spouted off everything I need without having to ask a single question, and that was a fellow dispatcher. Also know the EMD folks have to ask a lot more questions than in order to ascertain the right medical response AND provide accurate pre-arrival instructions to the caller.

I had one lady call me a racist when I asked if the suspect was "white, black or hispanic." Another caller refused to give me her location because "you can trace me, I seen it on CSI." I couldn't imagine dealing with these people via text message...

I'm not saying it wouldn't be useful in emergencies where the complainant needs to keep quiet (and TDD emergencies), but other than those situations, I see it delaying the flow of pertinent information. This would be especially true with larger agencies that have call-takers and dispatchers as separate jobs, and texting would add more time to the flow process.

As long as we educate people to only text 911 if you have to stay quiet, then it will serve it's purpose. But just saying "Hey you can text 911 instead," you're going to get people using it when they don't need it and would get a quicker response by voice.

I can also imagine all the prank texts and the single "help me" texts that we can't do anything about because there's no GPS information. Most cell phone carriers won't give out the subscriber address until you fax a report form signed by a supervisor, proving that there is a legitimate life or death emergency. Good luck with that.

Ryan you have a valid point. I guess the "stupid" people would just die if it were a dire life threatening emergency. If you can't think logically while under stress then you're destined to become a casualty.

73,
n9zas

 

[gewecke]

But most messages will be something like "911 911 now now pls hury".

Right. those are the people that would die, if the system did work as designed. :roll:


73,
n9zas