The program is about five years in the making and has been quietly tested for months — but now it’s now available across all of the county’s cities and unincorporated areas, except Campbell and Los Gatos, which will implement the service by the end of the year.
“It really is such an incredibly important option for us, in terms of people that may either have speech difficulties or experiencing a problem where they can’t talk — it gives us the ability to start getting help towards them with that text message,” said Heather Plamondon, director of Communications Department for Santa Clara County Fire Department. “Or if you’re in a situation where there’s maybe an intruder or some sort of captor, you may not be able to speak.”
During emergencies, people can simply text the number “911” as the recipient of a new message, rather than calling. Dispatchers can respond in kind without either side having to speak.
That said, the first question from a dispatcher will be to push back on whether you really need to text in the first place, said Nicholas Baham, supervising communications dispatcher for the department. Because texting is slower than a straightforward phone call, it’s only meant to be used when absolutely necessary.
“Our focus is call if you can, text if you can’t,” Baham said. “We’re going to challenge whether they really have to utilize text.”
It’s also not exactly, well, texting. The service cannot determine the sender’s location, nor receive photos or videos; services are also only available in English.
Over time, the county may explore adding more features, but the service is in its infancy, Baham said.
Other Bay Area agencies that already accept and respond to 911 text messages include all of the law enforcement and fire departments in San Mateo County, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division.
Santa Clara County dispatchers handle emergency calls in the unincorporated area and the cities of Cupertino, Saratoga and Los Altos Hills. Many of other cities in the county introduced the texting 911 service earlier.
Although public interest in preparing for mass shootings is on the rise, that wasn’t the impetus for the service, Plamondon said. And Santa Clara County isn’t the first to implement such a program: Back in 2014, all four major phone carriers began supporting the service, with services available across parts of states like Texas, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Broadly, though, texting 911 remains limited across the U.S., according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Santa Clara County has partnered with telecommunications company West Corp. and AT&T for the new technology service.
©2019 The Cupertino Courier (San Jose, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
