When an emergency takes place, our first instinct is to call 911. But now there is a whole new way for Minnesotans to get help. After three years of diligent work with various stakeholders, the Department of Public Safety’s Emergency Communication Networks (DPS-ECN) division is announcing the statewide availability of Text-to-911.
The new service is now available with the motto: "Call if you can, text if you can't." Text-to-911 is an alternative option to calling in an emergency.
Text-to-911 offers new benefits for Minnesotans who have some form of hearing loss and have had to depend on indirect ways to reach 911. Once deployed, individuals who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing or speech impaired may use Text-to-911 as a first contact option.
911 dispatchers extensively trained and tested this new system. Representatives will explain how to get help in the quickest way possible while using Text-to-911.
Descriptive Transcript:
[Shawn Vriezen, CDI, and Bob Hawkins, Assistant Commissioner, Department of Public Safety, are standing at the platform. Behind them is a blue backdrop with the words, “Minnesota Department of Public Safety” and their logo displayed.]
Assistant Commissioner Hawkins: This new technology, text-to-911, is a game changer and it’s going to help save lives. But there are certain emergencies, where if you speak, it’ll actually put you in more harm. And some of those examples are home invasions, kidnapping, violent domestics. That is why this new statewide program is so important.
[Quick shot of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and the Emergency Communication Networks logo.]
[Shawn Vriezen, CDI, and Dana Wahlberg, 911 Program Manager, Emergency Communication Networks, are standing at the platform. Behind them is a blue backdrop with the words, “Minnesota Department of Public Safety” and their logo displayed.]
Dana Wahlberg: We live in a world of changing technologies. (Briefly holds up her phone.) Technologies that fit in the palm of our hand and are designed to make our lives easier. This has prompted the need to change the 9-1-1 network. A network that has basically been unchanged since that first call to 9-1-1 was placed back in 1068, nearly 50 years ago, in Haleyville, Alabama. After extensive hardware and software upgrades in 2017, dispatcher training and a robust testing of the system with all four major wireless carriers, I am pleased to announce that text-to-911 is now available statewide in Minnesota. Today, fewer than 20% of all 9-1-1 centers nationwide are text-to-911 capable. This new service marks a major milestone in Minnesota’s next generation 9-1-1 deployment. While texting is exciting, it’s important to remember that aside from a few exceptions, text-to-911 is a second option to calling 9-1-1. The motto everyone should think about is, “call if you can, text if you can’t.”
[Quick shot of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and the Emergency Communication Networks logo.]
[Shawn Vriezen, CDI, and Heidi Hieserich, MSP Airport Emergency Communications Center, are standing at the platform. Behind them is a blue backdrop with the words, “Minnesota Department of Public Safety” and their logo displayed.]
Heidi Hieserich: But think about how long it takes to text with a friend. You stare at your screen, waiting for a reply and it seems like it can take forever. It could take that long for you to text with 9-1-1 too. Time is precious in an emergency and response times could be delayed due to the amount of time it takes to send and receive texts. That is why 9-1-1 would prefer to speak with you.
[Quick shot of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and the Emergency Communication Networks logo.]
[Anne Sittner Anderson, Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing Minnesotans, is standing at the platform. Behind her is a blue backdrop with the words, “Minnesota Department of Public Safety” and their logo displayed. Anne begins to sign.]
Anne Sittner Anderson: Text-to-911 is a milestone for the 20% of Minnesotans who have some form of hearing loss. Some are deaf, some are deafblind, and others are hard of hearing. These are Minnesotan who until this time needed to find an indirect way to communicate with 9-1-1 dispatch. Text-to-911 will help people with a hearing loss, who have at times in the past have depended on friends, family members, neighbors, and even occasionally strangers to get in touch with 9-1-1 dispatch for them.
[Quick shot of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and the Emergency Communication Networks logo.]
[Shawn Vriezen, CDI, and Dana Wahlberg, 911 Program Manager, Emergency Communication Networks, are standing at the platform. Behind them is a blue backdrop with the words, “Minnesota Department of Public Safety” and their logo displayed.]
Dana Wahlberg: One of the things that we desired to do in the state of Minnesota was to do a collaborative approach to ensure that once we were able to go live with it, that it was a statewide solution. So we did spend a considerable amount of time before we actually began to deploy to ensure that we were able to offer it across the state and not just in different pockets throughout the state or in different counties, which has been done in a number of other states.
[Graphic with the outline of the state of Minnesota with the following text next to it, “Text-to-911” “Call if you can, text if you can’t.” and the logos for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and the Emergency Communication Networks logo.]