HALL COUNTY — Residents in Hall County can now text 911 in an emergency when it might be unsafe to make a phone call or when the resident is unable to speak due to deafness or disability.
The Hall County 911 Center is one of only 16 centers in the state that can receive a call for help via text message with the launch of Text-to-911.
“Text-to-911 will provide quicker access to emergency services for the deaf, hard of hearing and speech disabled residents of Hall County,” said Marty Nix, assistant Hall County Administrator.
To text 911, simply send a text to the number 9-1-1, just as one would when placing a phone call.
There are many situations where Text-to-911 can be more effective than calling 911 such as during an abduction, home invasion, domestic situation and in the instance where a cell call cannot be delivered but a text can.
“Text-to-911 will also accommodate the younger generation, who consistently use text messaging instead of a phone call to communicate,” said Nix.
Although Hall County 911 has the capability now to receive a text message, residents are still urged to use a voice call as their primary source of communication with 911 if they are able to do so.
“Voice calls allow the 911 operator to more quickly ask questions and obtain information from the caller, while two-way communication by text can take more time and could be subject to limits on the length of text messages,” Nix said. “In addition, when you make a voice call to 911, the call taker will typically receive your phone number and the approximate location of your phone automatically.”
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