Suburban Counties Agree to Set Up 911 Texting

By James Boyle:

Residents needing emergency assistance in the Southeastern Pennsylvania region will soon have a new option to get in touch with first responders: texting 911.

According to the Pottstown Mercury, the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners have agreed to a memorandum of understanding with Bucks, Berks and Chester counties to establish the new service. The availability of texting during an emergency could be helpful to people who may be unable to speak or are hiding from an intruder and want to stay quiet, the article says.

By combining resources, there will be less of an expense for each county to set up the texting system and training current dispatchers. They will also have the ability to better pinpoint texters who are along the county boundaries.

Delaware County opted out of the agreement, according to the Delaware County Times, because their location technology to track cell phone users has not been working properly since the availability of the 4G network. A spokesperson said that the county fears that emergency responders may take longer to find someone texting 911.

The 911 texting is projected to be available in the beginning of 2015.