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FCC to Update 911 Service With Texting, Video Capabilities
For the first time in nearly a decade, the 911 emergency service is getting an overhaul, as the FCC looks to expand and update its crime reporting capabilities. As Wired reports, users in need of urgent assistance may soon be able to immediately contact 911 via text message or video streamed directly from their mobiles. The proposed system upgrade would be the first since 2001, when the FCC required all service providers to automatically provide the location of users calling 911. Yet, even with 70-percent of 911 users dialing from their cell phones, the service has yet to incorporate text messages or streaming video into its system -- features that, according to the federal organization, could have a very real and immediate impact. "The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences," reads a press release from the Commission. "During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received. If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding."
The FCC is also looking to implement an automated pinging system, which could notify 911 respondents via chemical detection sensors, alarm systems, medical devices or in-car services like OnStar. It's still not clear how the FCC will finance the upgrade, and whether 911's new capabilities will be federally mandated or just merely suggested. But considering how many people could benefit from having SMS access during times of peril, the overhaul certainly seems worth the investment -- even if it's somewhat overdue.
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Comments
9
Subscribe to commentsDorothy AdamsNov 26th 2010 6:54AM
It's about time! woo hoo!
SteveNov 26th 2010 11:25AM
Ya about time but will take 5 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MaryNov 26th 2010 12:21PM
Bad idea.... You are laying bleeding on the ground.... you will have to text to get help. Or you are being attacked or see someone getting attacked. You will have to text to get help!
Sometime people only have seconds to call for help. What then?
danikytn80Nov 26th 2010 1:49PM
they are just adding text capabilities thats all, i think this could really come in handy, especially with kidnapping and hostage situations
VinnieNov 26th 2010 1:53PM
@(Unverified)
Read the article. You are mistaken. Texting is IN ADDITION to the option of dialing 9-1-1. Understand what you read before you post. It might help. LOL
WendyNov 26th 2010 2:40PM
OK, I can see that maybe you're being stalked or something and you need to quietly contact 911. But too many people don't understand that it takes longer to text out a message than to say it. Not to mention the dispatcher can ask for more details without generating an entirely new message. The article itself illustrates this point "During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received" WHY were they trying to TEXT 911??? The faster and more efficient action would have been to open a VOCAL line of communication.
bkwormsjvNov 27th 2010 4:05AM
@(Unverified) You make a number of assumptions. For one, you state as fact that it is faster to talk than text. That may be true for you and me, but many of the younger generation DO text faster. Especially with all the advances in cell phones these days, from swiping to full keyboards, texting is getting faster and faster for most cell phone users.
Also, consider these scenarios:
The caller is deaf.
There is a need for silence, or at least to not draw undue attention.
The caller has a cold and no voice.
It is too loud for the caller to be heard.
The caller has a heavy accent.
Someone has pre-programmed name and address into a ready-made 911 alert and just has time to send it.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine what use a live video feed would be for emergency responders.
The biggest thing to me is that the article said it would be an addition, and I didn't see them state anywhere that they expect everyone to switch to texting. The vast majority of calls will probably remain vocal in nature- this is just a measure to catch the instances where texting happens to be the best option.
LanaNov 26th 2010 4:44PM
As being a 911 Dispatcher, I personally think this is a bad option. If you have ever been in a Communications Center or called 911, have you seen/heard the age of the Dispatcher? Dispatching is a hard job & you have to take your job serious so for the most part, Dispatchers are of the older generation. I am 37 years old & yes, I text on my cell phone. But, I do not know the "text lingo" that the younger generation use & if they use lingo on 911, you will have a lack of communication because the Dispatcher will more than likely not know what they are trying to say. So, unless FCC makes callers use the English language or makes a generic lingo (as in "u" for you, "c" for see), I believe texting & videoing is a bad thing when they are fully capable of talking to the Dispatcher. Videoing would be a viable thing AFTER the caller has provided important information (where, who, what, when, why, weapons).
bkwormsjvNov 27th 2010 4:20AM
@(Unverified)
I have enormous respect for emergency dispatchers, and it does take a steady person to handle the job. And you're correct that right now most good candidates are not in the generation that knows texting lingo. However, I have a few pieces of food for thought:
1. The current situation will not be true forever. Kids who know the lingo are growing up, and at some point will be steady enough to join the emergency dispatchers work force.
2. Communication difficulties can be reduced by education on both sides. Dispatchers can be trained on what the acronyms and shortened words mean, and the public can be warned that using lingo instead of words may result in a delay.
3. Yes, this is a lot of bother and there will probably be rough patches as things get started, but if the goal of the job is to help the community in the best way possible, this bridge will have to be crossed at some point. The world is getting so dependent on cell phones and texting, it seems to me it would be irresponsible (in the big picture) to ignore non-verbal messages as an avenue of communications. We would be ignoring the forest for the trees.
By all means, we get to be careful and responsible with any such changes, and you do point out valid challenges. But I think that if we go into this with a proactive attitude, they will indeed prove to be challenges instead of obstacles.