Indian River County-April 12, 2022: The Indian River County Department of Emergency Services and Public Safety Dispatch office have launched a new Text-to-911 emergency service in cooperation with the four major wireless carriers – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile.
Text-to-911 allows improved emergency service for the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as the speech impaired. Text-to-911 should only be used in an emergency situation when placing a call is not possible or when speaking out loud would put the caller in danger.
Voice calls to 911 still remain the best and fastest way to notify first responders of an emergency.
How to use Text-to-911:
• Enter 911 in the “to” field of your text messenger
• First Message – Send location of emergency, type of emergency: Police, Fire, Ambulance, and your name – press send
• Silence your phone if you are in a dangerous situation
• Use simple words, no slang or abbreviations
• Keep messages brief and concise
• Don’t use emojis, bitmojis, gifs, or other images to communicate your emergency
• Don’t text and drive! Pull over to a safe location and stop your vehicle before sending a text
