Residents in DuPage County can now text 911 during emergencies thanks to a new service launched on April 8.

This initiative aims to assist individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, have speech disabilities, or find themselves in situations where speaking is unsafe, but the ability to text 911 for assistance has been active in some areas since 2014.

These messages are received by Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), which are set up to respond to emergency texts.

“Essentially, the reason for the text message is for one thing only, and it was basically, if someone is not allowing you to speak or you cannot speak. That’s where it comes into play,” West Chicago Police Officer Mike Levato said.

The preferred method of contacting 911 is still by phone call.  However, when texting 911, there are two important steps to follow. First, the individual must say – in the text – their location and describe anything around them that looks familiar. Second, the individual must text what the emergency is so the dispatcher can understand what help is needed.

“I feel like this would allow for people communicating to 911 to feel safer as they are able to be discreet,” sophomore Joseph Kurby said.

While being able to text the police is a helpful new option, most people do not even know it is available. Since the feature became active on April 8, there have not been many texts; according to Levato, most people are still choosing to call. Even so, he believes it is helpful to know there is another way to reach 911 in an emergency.

Three videos about text-to-911 have been created for the deaf, blind, hard of hearing, and speech-disabled communities. This was a joint effort between the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) Public Education Sub-Committee and the NENA Accessibility Committee, and the videos are available on the DuPage County website.

“I think it’s good because, say you’re deaf, or you’re in a situation where you can’t call somebody, then you can text and notify help,” sophomore Aaliyah Silva said. “Or if you’re in the mountains or something random, and you have no service, sometimes you can’t call somebody once you have service, but a text was sent right away once you do have service.”