Sending text messages to 9-1-1 is something few PSAPs (Public Safety Answering Points) are ready to receive. The ability is in the works, however, and the FCC is working with carriers and 9-1-1 centers to roll out the service beginning this year. If you attempt to send a text message to a 9-1-1 center that is not capable of receiving it, after June 30, 2013 you will get a “bounce back” message telling you to use other means to reach 9-1-1. Prior to June 30, you will receive no notice that your message did not go through. Equipment upgrades and policy decisions must still be implemented in most PSAPs before they will be able to respond to text based 9-1-1 calls. If you intend to use text messages as a way to contact 9-1-1, you should check with your local PSAP to find out when they will be able to receive and act on your message. Until then, use voice, TTY, or relay services to reach 9-1-1.
Texting to 9-1-1 is just around the corner
January 23, 2013
9-1-1, News 9-1-1, 911, PSAP, text to 911, text-to-9-1-1, texting 1 Comment
Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?
November 8, 2012
9-1-1, commentary 9-1-1, 9-1-1 stories, dispatcher stories, prowler calls Leave a comment
Sometimes you just can’t tell who will be able to convey information to you and who will not. Disregarding folks who are new to an area, or just visiting, there’s still a huge number of people, or so it seems sometimes, who simply don’t know the basics about where they are, and which way is up.
Well, I suppose they can figure out which way is up, but trying to get north, east, south, or west out of them is like pulling those proverbial teeth out of those proverbial hens. Some folks just have no clue.
Now, they’ll tell us it’s “to the left”, but, really…. that doesn’t help. Turn around and your “left” is now the opposite direction! And telling me that it’s now to your right won’t improve the situation!
You guessed it… another 9-1-1 caller without a clue, calling in on a cell phone. No idea of the address of the house they live in, no idea which way east is, and unclear on what “get a piece of mail and read me the address” means.
It’s most annoying when they get mad at US for not knowing where THEY are! I want to reach through that phone and slap them silly. That’s probably why that particular feature is not activated on our systems. Part of our job is protecting the public. Even from us! 😉 Kidding! (sort of)
LOL… just LOL
October 20, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Humor 9-1-1, ambulance, dispatch stories, emt humor, John Doe, Juan Doe 1 Comment
I don’t dispatch medical, so I had to look up the acronym ETOH. It refers to ethyl alcohol… booze.
What’s it like at 9-1-1? It’s like this…
May 18, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Personal 9-1-1, 9-1-1 center, 9-1-1 dispatching, 911, emergency dispatching, Prince George's County Dispatch Leave a comment
Our center is not as roomy or well lit (too many of my co-workers want to work in the dark!), but this video gives a great overview of most modern 9-1-1 centers. We don’t have to do the medical pre-arrival aspect in our center, that’s handled by the Tulare County Consolidated Ambulance Dispatch staff, and the Tulare County Fire Department has their own dispatch center, but everything else is pretty spot-on. Whatever the type of call, we deal with it first, directing it to TCCAD or TCFD if required, or taking information and dispatching Tulare County Sheriff Deputies, or police officers from Farmersville, Exeter, Woodlake, and Lindsay Police Departments. Prince George’s County, Maryland, has a state-of-the-art 9-1-1 center, and is an example to which other centers can aspire. Every type of incident here, except the medical instructions, is something I’ve dealt with in the past, and just when you think you’ve heard it all, the Universe will toss something at you, as if to say “oh, no you haven’t!”.
National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week April 8-14, 2012
April 13, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Personal 9-1-1, 911, dispatcher, dispatcher stories, emergency services, National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week Leave a comment
By Chief Thomas Wagoner
Loveland (Colo.) Police Department
Someone once asked me if I thought that answering telephones for a living was a profession. I said, “I thought it was a calling.”
And so is dispatching. I have found in my law enforcement career that dispatchers are the unsung heroes of public safety. They miss the excitement of riding in a speeding car with lights flashing and sirens wailing. They can only hear of the bright orange flames leaping from a burning building. They do not get to see the joy on the face of worried parents as they see their child begin breathing on its own, after it has been given CPR.
Dispatchers sit in darkened rooms looking at computer screens and talking to voices from faces they never see. It’s like reading a lot of books, but only half of each one.
Dispatchers connect the anxious conversations of terrified victims, angry informants, suicidal citizens and grouchy officers. They are the calming influence of all of them-the quiet, competent voices in the night that provide the pillars for the bridges of sanity and safety. They are expected to gather information from highly agitated people who can’t remember where they live, what their name is, or what they just saw. And then, they are to calmly provide all that information to the officers, firefighters, or paramedics without error the first time and every time.
End of vacation
April 13, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Personal 9-1-1, dispatcher stories, vacation, work Leave a comment
Well, technically, the vacation ended yesterday. With my regular days off, I go back to work Monday. Hope I remember how to tell them where to go!
Assuming the worst
January 27, 2011
Personal 9-1-1, cell phone, irate caller Leave a comment
Assuming the worst:
He calls 9-1-1 to report a vehicle parked in his driveway, with a Hispanic man in the car. Caller tells 9-1-1 “he’s a criminal”. How does he know that? The man told him, in poor English, that he “doesn’t want the police to see him”. He called at shift change, so there’s no deputy available right then. 30 minutes later he’s on 9-1-1 again, mad as hell that there’s not a cop there yet about this ‘criminal’. He’s rude to the operator, (me) and also to Tulare PD dispatchers. Our unit and a Tulare PD Sargent arrive to check it out.
The gentleman was talking on his cellphone, “and didn’t want the police to see him”… on the phone while driving.
Dispatchers Fueled By Sugar?
January 26, 2011
Personal 9-1-1, cops, dispatcher stories, donuts 1 Comment
The secret to 10 hour shifts.
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
9-1-1 Dispatchers hanging up on new A&E show, “Panic 9-1-1”
November 30, 2012
Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary 9-1-1, 9-1-1 dispatcher stories, A&E, cop shows, panic 9-1-1, panic 911, reality television 19 Comments
In the real world of 9-1-1 dispatching, the verdict is in: this show sucks.
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