The Text-to-911 service was first available to a limited number of cities across the country in 2014. Since that time, the service has become more widely available, and software developers have combined other emergency services into an all encompassing platform.
Director of Marion County Department of Homeland Security Chris McIntire worked with Zuercher Technologies LLC, to implement the technology here. The system cost Marion County around $180,000.
Zeurcher's most recent product, ledsSuite, provides computer-aided dispatch, mapping, records management and other law enforcement functions.
"We've been working for several months to get this done," McIntire said. "There are seven counties in West Virginia that have Text-to-911, and we just became one of those seven."
A complete upgrade of Marion County 911 center's phone system allowed the implementation of the new software.
"It's the software that's part of our phone system — it was built into the system," Call Center Training Coordinator Lacy Morgan said. "A lot of it implements into our computer-aided dispatch system because it's made by the same company, so the information imports itself into the system."
McIntire said the texts are fielded in the same manner a 911 phone call is handled.
"You'll get a dispatcher [who will] have a dialogue with you through text messages," McIntire said. "If someone is hearing or speech impaired, or there's a home invasion or a domestic situation where you can't call 911, you can now text 911."
McIntire said the system was tested for "several months" with three of the major cell phone carriers in the area before deployment. And then, training the 911 staff was the next step.
"We started training on the capabilities right away," Morgan said. "It's a completely new phone system with all new software. And the cell phone companies had to implement it on their end, too."
US Cellular, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Cell took part in the testing process.
"Most of the time, they cover the smaller providers, too, so there should be even more providers under that umbrella," McIntire said.
Part of the new technology allows dispatchers to more quickly identify a caller's GPS location using cell phone data.
"It's called Rapid SOS," Morgan said. "It's a way to use GPS coordinates to narrow down the pinpoint of a location. Using GPS location with a cell phone ping is something we had before, but this one is more up to date with the software."
Morgan said some 911 calls still come in via landlines, but the majority come from cell phones.
"This is good to know," Marion County Commission President Randy Elliott said. "I'm sure it will reap benefits down the road when someone needs it."
At any given time, Marion County's 911 call center has five or six dispatchers on duty.
"Our slogan is 'Call if you can, text if you can't.' It's always better to make a voice call," McIntire said.
McIntire said despite the new technology, information can be conveyed much faster by speaking.
"The way technology is changing, I don't know what's going to happen in the future," McIntire said. "But there's something called Next Generation 911 that's coming. No one has it yet, but in the future we'll be able to get videos and pictures from texts at the 911 center."
"We don't know where technology is going next, but we're trying to stay on top of it the best we can," McIntire said.
To reach Lori Riley, email lriley@timeswv.com.
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