CANYON COUNTY, Idaho — Text messaging to 911 is now available in Canyon County, the Canyon Co. Sheriff's Office announced Thursday.
The service is available through the City of Nampa's dispatch center as well as the county's dispatch center.
The sheriff's office said it urges the community to "always call 911 when possible," but to use the Text to 911 service when that is not feasible, such as situations where someone's safety would be compromised if they were heard speaking out loud; for example, domestic violence, home invasions or active shootings. The text-message capability also provides people with speech or hearing impairments direct access to emergency communication services.
Sheriff Kieran Donahue said in a news release that Text to 911 has already helped save a man's life in Canyon County.
"One of first text to 911 messages our dispatch center received was from a young child who was speech impaired, and he texted that his dad was having a medical emergency," Donahue said. "Our dispatch team was able to get the location of the house via text message and send help."
Below are the FCC guidelines for how to contact 911. If you use a wireless phone or other type of mobile device, make sure to do the following in an emergency:
- "Call if you can – text if you can't." Voice calling remains the preferred method of contacting 911 whenever it is possible and safe.
- If you have hearing or speech disabilities, and Text to 911 is not available, use a TTY or telecommunications relay service, if available.
- If you text 911 and text to 911 is not available in your area, you will receive a bounce back message advising "text is not available please make a voice call to 911."
- Text messages to 911 may take longer to receive and may get out of order or not be received at all. If you do not receive a text response, try to contact 911 another way.
- Be prepared to give your location, as cellphone location accuracy varies by carrier and should not be relied upon.
Text to 911 service comes with the following limitations:
- Text to 911 is not available if you are roaming.
- A text or data plan is required to place a text to 911.
- The 911 center cannot receive photos and videos.
- Text messages should be sent in plain language and not contain popular abbreviations (SMH, LOL, ICYMI) or emojis, which will not be recognized.
- Text to 911 cannot be sent to more than one person. Do not send your emergency text to anyone other than 911.
- There currently is no language interpretation for text available; it is still in development. Right now, texts must be in English only.
Text to 911 is also available in many other Idaho counties.
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