Written by Ben Cox – Brownwood area residents who are in an emergency situation but for some reason cannot make a phone call are now able to text 911 for assistance, thanks to a new program rolled out at the Brownwood area Law Enforcement center
While calling 911 is the preferred method of communication for emergencies, certain instances make it hard for people to call. “Say you have a burglary in progress, you have an intruder inside and you don’t want them to hear you talking on the phone. A domestic situation and the attacker is still there, kidnapping situations, you can text that information. The motto is Call when you can, text when you can’t” says Police Department Communication Manager Deedra Molotsky.
The service covers Brown County, and will be expanded as time goes on. In its current configuration, only basic text messages can be sent to the dispatcher, who is able to read only the number that sent the text.
The screen used by emergency dispatchers to communicate with text to 911 users
In phase two of the program, which Molotsky hopes will be rolled out later this year or in early 2020, dispatchers will have access to GPS information, the callers information as well as have the ability to receive pictures from the person in need.
“West Central Texas Council of Governments, or COG, runs all 911 in the state” and they decide who receives the technology and when phases will be rolled out to which parts of the state, according to Brownwood Police Chief Terry Nichols. “It should be coming, we are just waiting.”
Chief Nichols says this is a great advance for Brownwood and the surrounding area. “We are excited to roll it out to the community. It’s one more tool that we can use.”
There is the possibility for abuse of the system, just as with traditional 911. As with traditional 911 abuse, “it is a crime to abuse 911, text will be no different”, according to Chief Nichols.
Molotsky also warned that while old cell phones that are not in service can still dial 911, they will not be able to send texts if they are not on a service plan.
The system is currently up and running and already able to accept texts.
