Thursday marked the beginning of Maryland’s statewide text-to-911 service, which allows certain cellphone users to text for help in an emergency when placing a phone call is not possible.
The service is available to customers enrolled in the text messaging and/or data plan for one of the major wireless carriers — AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile along with the former Sprint.
Text-to-911 is for people who are:
- Deaf, hard-of-hearing or have a speech disability;
- In a situation making it unsafe for a voice call to 911;
- Experiencing a medical emergency and may be unable to speak.
“We are thrilled to officially launch text-to-911 service here in Maryland,” said Kevin Kinnally, associate director of the Maryland Association of Counties. “While a phone call is still the preferred way to contact 9-1-1, the ability to send a text message to 9-1-1 gives residents and visitors — particularly those who may have difficulty placing a voice call — better access to emergency services.”
In 2013, Frederick County was the first jurisdiction in Maryland to launch the service.
As part of Maryland Matters’ content sharing agreement with WTOP, we feature this article from Rob Woodfork. Click here for the WTOP News website.