Summoning 911 Officials About to Get Easier in Clawson Area

The Oakland County emergency management officials are unveiling new technology that could make it easier for people to get out of dangerous situations.

By the end of this month, people who need to summon emergency officials can text 911 as well as call the number, the Detroit Free Press. Oakland County will be the third in Michigan to offer the option. Lapeer and Lake counties also offer the service.

In some cases, making an emergency phone call isn’t an option, whether it’s because of a weak cell phone signal, loud background noises or fear that a call will tip off your location to a home burglar.

We want to have the latest and best technology that will allow us to help people when they call 911, or text 911, or make any contact to get help,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

Citing data from Telecommunication Systems, the sheriff said that in the first three months of 2014, there were 21,683 unsuccessful attempts to text 911 across the country, with 272 of them in Michigan. The company is working with county officials and wireless service provides to enable 911 text-messaging services.

Mel Maier, chief of emergency management operations for the sheriff’s office, said calling is still the most reliable way to summon emergency officials. “Call when you can; text when you can’t,” he said.

Dispatchers will be able to discern the location of the person sending the text by pinging his or her cell phone.

Oakland County’s is the second-busiest dispatch center in Michigan.

“We take over half a million calls a year here at the dispatch center.” Maier told WXYZ-TV. “But a large segment of the population text on a daily basis. The Sheriff wanted to integrate that into his operation here.”

The county won’t incur extra costs to offer the service because of cooperation with service providers.

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