Text 911 Set To Begin In Deschutes County

By Conrad Wilson (OPB)
Dec. 11, 2016 8 a.m.

Starting Dec. 12, Deschutes County 911 will begin taking emergency texts.

Texting 911 will help those who can’t call for safety reasons as well as those who are deaf or hard of hearing, said Steve Reinke, the director of the county 911 service. He said calling is still preferable for dispatchers.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:

“It’s far more efficient for us to take a 911 call over the phone than it is over back and forth texting," he said. "We get voice inflection, we hear background information, the nuances of a 911 call – sometimes there’s information in a voice call that helps us process the call.”

Washington, Clackamas, Multnomah, Columbia and Washington state’s Clark County all take emergency texts already.

Reinke said texting is a bridge to more advanced ways to communicate during emergencies. But he also warned that people opting to text 911 should avoid sending multimedia elements, such as emojis or images.

“New digital technology that’ll allow us to take photos, videos and other multimedia over a digital network," he said. "We’re not there yet. That network still has to be built in Oregon.”

About 180,000 people live in the Deschutes County 911 district. On average, dispatchers take 800 emergency and non-emergency calls daily.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR: