Iowa 9-1-1 Call Center First in Nation to Go Live with Text to 9-1-1

Picture your son or daughter suddenly falling ill at a noisy party, a hearing-impaired relative falling down a set of stairs, or that you observe someone leaving a package by an obscure wall in a crowded airport.

 

In none of these incidents voice calls to 9-1-1 are possible or feasible. But texting is. And texting has the benefit of having a direct transcript of what is being communicated, for fast relaying to emergency personnel.

 

And in a groundbreaking application the Black Hawk Consolidated Public Safety Communications Center in Waterloo, Iowa, will become the first 9-1-1 contact center in the United States to directly receive text messages following a successful trial in June, 2009. Currently people with speech and hearing impairments must communicate with 9-1-1 operators using a relay center or a specialized communications device.

 

A press conference and live demonstration of a 9-1-1 text for assistance request to the center will be held on Wednesday, August 5th at 1:15 p.m. at the Waterloo City Hall.

 

The texting service will be available from select wireless subscribers in the county. Individuals with speech and hearing impairments or callers otherwise unable to place a voice call, to use text messaging to communicate directly with a 9-1-1 telecommunicator in an emergency.

 

Officials are urging the public to remember that a voice call remains the best way to contact 9-1-1. Texting to 9-1-1 should only be used in situations where a voice call is not possible.

 

“We are pleased that our county has become the first in the nation to successfully deploy text to 9-1-1,” says Chief Thomas Jennings, chairman, Black Hawk 9-1-1 Board. “This solution not only helps better protect our speech and hearing impaired citizens but it proves how important it is for public safety to support all forms of communication.”

 

“The state of Iowa has a long history of pioneering advancements in 9-1-1 technology as a way to enhance the safety of all of our citizens,” says David Miller, administrator, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division. “We are proud to be part of this initiative to assist the speech and hearing impaired.”

 

David Sims, in TMCnet’s First Coffee Blog reported June 10 that many communications companies, including Intrado, i wireless, Positron Public Safety, and RACOM Corporation, worked to support the move.

Richard Ray, chair of the National Emergency Number Association's Accessibility Committee, urges public safety agencies to "accelerate the deployment of this technology and to encourage, support and celebrate efforts such as this."

Increasingly, says Chief Jennings, text is “becoming the way people communicate and public safety must be able to support 9-1-1 text messaging.”