California City's Text-to-911 System Active
The Richmond, California, police department is now accepting text to 911 as a part of the switch to Next-Generation 911, a spokeswoman said. The department provides fire and emergency medical service and dispatches police services for the cities of Richmond,…
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San Pablo, El Cerrito and Kensington, she said. The department uses a Web-based program through TeleCommunication Systems to accept the text messages and has received at least a dozen texts -- reporting gunshots and less serious crimes -- since the program went live at the end of January, the spokeswoman said. "We thought that being able to text 911 was important for the hearing/speech impaired community, this gives them a way to contact us directly without using a third party," she said in an email. "It allows those that would be in danger by placing a 911 voice call a way to contact emergency services."