News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
White County residents can now text 911 to receive emergency assistance.
White County Emergency Services launched the new text to 911 system Thursday. White County 911 Director Suzi Cash Haston said the new system is simple and easy to use as you simply just text 911 with any cellular device. The responder will then ask for your location and the reason for the emergency response and send appropriate emergency services to the location.
“We do have some hearing-impaired, we do have some deaf, and we do have some speech-impaired,” Haston said. “We do have several calls where it would be much better if they were not speaking out loud so that maybe in a domestic situation their partner is not hearing what they are saying to 911.”
Haston said the system is tested and is completely functional and those who need to text should not hesitate to use it. Haston said she encourages people who can call 911 to still call rather than text as they will be able to respond faster.
“There could be just a small time difference,” Haston said. “As we know when you text there can be some seconds and we do know that seconds save lives. There’s not going to be much of a lag in between that, but when you hit 911 and your calling it immediately comes to us.”
Haston said various other counties in the Upper Cumberland already offer this service. Haston said the department had a lengthy multi-step process to get the service ready to go live.
“We had to go through several companies,” Haston said. “Just the process of getting everything set up, it was months and months, so it wasn’t just an overnight thing we had to go through all the steps and check all the boxes and the testing was probably one of the least time-consuming.”
Haston said it is important that if you are in a domestic violence situation, to turn the ringer off on your phone as they will be texting back to get more information. Haston said the department will continue to look for new ways to help out the citizens of White County.
