Miss. County Employs 9-1-1 Texting System

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo

Sept. 07—When someone needs emergency help in Lee County but can't speak, they now have the option of sending a text message to 911.

"This is a real benefit for the deaf community," said Lee County 911 director Paul Harkins. "But it will also be a benefit for others who can't speak because of the situation.

"We have already seen cases of domestic abuse where the victim was in the same room and could not call and talk to a dispatcher because the abuser would hear. But they can text us and pass along the information so we can send help."

To send a text, the user creates a new message and instead of using a contact or a phone number in the "to," field, they simply type 911 and send. The user should explain what their emergency is and provide an address so law enforcement can respond. They can also give the name and description of any suspects.

The dispatcher will respond by text, just like any other text conversation. Once the conversation is ended, the dispatcher can't re-establish contact.

The Lee Communications dispatchers have been able to receive text messages for about six months. Before making a public announcement, officials decided to roll out the service quietly to make sure they worked out any kinks in the system. And because Mississippi's cell phone carriers do not have the Next Generation 911 services, there are some kinks.

"The texts come through the TTY system (Text Telephone system for the deaf) and sometimes it is garbled," Harkins said. "And there is some lag in information. Sometimes it's more than a minute before they receive the response."

Because of the delay, the system will not track the real-time location of a moving caller/texter, such as someone traveling down the road in a vehicle. It does display the latitude and longitude information from the phone when the text was sent. When multiple texts are sent, the dispatcher can use the changing positions to give authorities a better idea where they are headed.

Lee County has the equipment in place to handle the Next Generation 911 system, but officials have to wait for the state and phone carriers to upgrade the infrastructure.

"We can't just go out and buy equipment to bring Lee County up to the new system," Harkins said. "That's because we still have to communicate with 911 dispatchers in the surrounding counties.

"It is something that will have to be dealt with on the state level. The legislature is aware of the situation."

Since starting the service earlier this year, 911 has received several accidental text messages.

"It's kind of funny. We will text back 'What is your emergency?'" Harkins said, "and they will text back 'Who is this?' You can tell pretty quick when it was an accidental text."

People should avoid texting 911 unless it is an emergency. Under state law, texting 911 is considered the same as calling 911. Making harassing or nuisance texts is a misdemeanor and can be punished by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. A second offense is considered a felony punishable by three years in prison and/or up to a $10,000 fine.