Texts will be retrieved by dispatchers at the Butler County Sheriff’s Office Communication Center, who will then notify the appropriate law enforcement, fire or emergency medical service agency to respond.
Text to 9-1-1 provides a method for notifying emergency services when circumstances make voice-to-voice contact difficult such as when a caller is hard of hearing or in a situation where they fear for their safety.
Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones said his office is providing the Text to 9-1-1 service to provide Butler County citizens better access to public safety resources during an emergency.
“This will be a great way to make contact with someone in a domestic situation or in situations where a victim is in fear of someone hearing their voice,” Jones said. “Call 9-1-1 in an emergency when you can. Text 9-1-1 when you can’t.”
In addition to receiving texts to 9-1-1, dispatchers are able to send text messages in response to ‘abandoned wireless 9-1-1 calls’ — a situation where the wireless caller hangs up before reaching 9-1-1.
Using the phone number provided by the 9-1-1 system, the dispatcher sends a message to the caller to determine if they have an emergency.
Wireless carriers can deliver the caller’s location when they text 9-1-1 in some situations, however, it is absolutely imperative that callers provide their location to the dispatcher when texting.
As of now, the Butler County Communications Center is unable to receive pictures or video via 9-1-1 text message.
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