MARYLAND — Marylanders will now be able to text 911 in emergency situations in addition to calling.
Maryland residents and visitors will have the ability to text 911 in the event of an emergency.
They say this enhancement will benefit everyone especially the hearing/speech impaired.
The service is available to customers enrolled in the text messaging and/or data plan for one of the major wireless carriers. They include AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile along with the former Sprint.
"We sent this information out to all of our officers today," said Sgt. Warehime. "Immediately I got a response back that they had an individual in their community that is deaf and they were headed over right now to make sure that that person had the information.
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.
While text-to-911 is a great new tool for public use, the public is highly encouraged to call 911 whenever possible.
For more information on the new text-to-911 call watch this informational video here.
