The Durham Emergency Communications Center began a pilot program to test the ability to receive 911 texting directly to a 911 dispatching console in August 2011. The program was a combined effort involving Intrado Inc (News - Alert)., a provider of 911 technology solutions that enable improved performance, reliability and capabilities of emergency communications systems and response, and Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless. Intrado provides a method of documenting every text received with a written time stamped transcript of all the information received and sent, provides the core of the nation’s 911 infrastructure and supports the delivery of more than 260 million calls to 911 centers every year.

In a recent FCC (News - Alert) filing, the Durham Emergency Communications center describes the program and its results. The program is ongoing and the emergency communications center tests the system twice daily to ensure it is working properly. So far, there has been no issue with the technology and the Durham Emergency Communications Center has been able to receive the telephone number of the person texting 911 with the location of the cellular tower it is being received from. As emergency communications and enterprise professionals begin the migration to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1), many have expressed concerns over the potential problems that could result from 9-1-1 texting. Comments filed yesterday with the FCC by the Emergency Communications Director for the City and County of Durham, NC, refute these concerns.

The concern that 911 texting could overwhelm an emergency communication center is not substantiated; to date, the Durham Emergency Communications Center received only one 911 text message requesting service and it was not an immediate emergency. According to this program, the public will not text 911 for any occurrence requiring immediate action.

“Although numerous reports state that more texts are sent than voice calls, this does not correlate to meaning that the same will occur in an emergency communication center,” said James T. Soukup, Emergency Communications director, City/County of Durham, NC in the FCC filings. “It is however a valuable asset to any emergency communications center capabilities for those rare incidents and every 911 center should have it. The concerns of needing more staff or receiving numerous false messages are not substantiated.”

Durham conducted a public education campaign to reach the population of Durham of 268,000. The campaign stressed that texting should only be used when verbal communication could put the caller in danger, if they are deaf or hearing impaired or if they are in an area where the signal-strength is very low. The campaign also stressed that the public should not use traditional “text-speak” terms and should state exactly what is being requested, because emergency personnel were not trained in text language and are required to clarify any abbreviations that may be received.

As the concerns and discussions about Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) implementation grow, it's important to remember that NG9-1-1 has been designed to incorporate emergency calls for service from both traditional telephone devices like land line and cellular telephones and non-traditional methods including Text, Instant Messaging, pictures and video.

"For most states, counties and voice network providers, the move to NG9-1-1 will be more of a migration than a leap, with proven gateways and other transition technologies easing the transition," says Nick Maier, senior vice president of RedSky (News - Alert) Technologies, a NG9-1-1 solutions provider. 

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