Sheriff's office announces 911 text option for hearing and speech impaired victims

The service is not currently available in the cities of Hanford, Lemoore or Corcoran.

The Kings County Sheriff’s Office and State Emergency Communications 911 announced that the local sheriff’s office dispatch center is equipped now to receive and respond to mobile phone SMS Text-to-911 messages.
The new service is designed and available for use by the deaf, hard-of-hearing, or speech impaired and in situations where it is too dangerous to make a voice call to 911. All phones or devices must include a text or data plan to send a text to 911.

According to local law enforcement, the benefits to citizens are significant, especially in cases when the caller cannot communicate verbally.  Examples include not only the hearing-impaired, but also when a crime is in process, the caller is facing domestic abuse, the caller is injured and cannot speak, or other scenarios. 

Below are the FCC guidelines for how to contact 9-1-1.  If you use a wireless phone or another type of mobile device, make sure to do the following in an emergency:

• Always contact 9-1-1 by making a voice call if you can.  “Call if you can – Text if     you can’t.”

• If you are deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-disabled, and Text-to-9-1-1 is not available, use a TTY or telecommunications relay service, if possible.

• If you text 9-1-1 and text is not available in your area, you will receive a bounce-back message advising “text is not available, please make a voice call to 9-1-1.” Bounce-back messages are intended to minimize your risk of mistakenly believing that a text to 9-1-1 has been transmitted.

• Location accuracy varies by carrier and should not be relied upon. Be prepared to give your location.

• Text-to-9-1-1 service will not be available if the wireless carrier cannot ascertain a location of the device sending the message.

• A text or data plan is required to place a text to 9-1-1.

• Our system is capable of receiving photos or video, however, the only carrier that currently supports this is Sprint. No other provider supports photos or videos presently. 

• Text messages should be sent in plain language and not contain popular abbreviations (SMH, LOL, ICYMI) or emoji's, which will not be recognized.

• Text-to-9-1-1 cannot be sent in a group text.  Do not send your emergency text to anyone other than 9-1-1.

• Texts must be in English only.  There currently is no language interpretation for text available.

• Using a phone to call 9-1-1 is still the most efficient way to reach emergency help "Call if you can – Text if you can't."