Did you know you could text 911 in an emergency? How it works, when to use it in Idaho

Shaun Goodwin

Calling 911 was once a near-impossible task for those deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. If a person with these disabilities needed police assistance, they had to have somebody help them or find an alternative solution.

But that’s not the case anymore.

Residents of Ada and Canyon counties can text 911 and enjoy the same services that calling the emergency line would provide. In fact, that’s been the case for a while now.

The Canyon County Sheriff’s Office announced in October 2021 that its Text to 911 program was available, while the service came to Ada County even earlier, in May 2019.

“This is a great tool that has already helped save a man’s life right here in our community,” Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue said in a news release shortly after the program was implemented.

“One of the first Text to 911 messages our dispatch center received was from a young child who was speech impaired, and he text that his dad was having a medical emergency,” Donahue continued. “Our dispatch team was able to get the location of the house via text message and send help.”

The Canyon and Ada sheriff’s offices still encourage people to call 911 when feasible because calls typically allow for a faster response time and easier time determining a person’s location.

How does Text to 911 work?

Text to 911 works just like calling 911, but over text rather than voice.

For example, if someone were to text 911 while in Ada County, they would receive the reply: “Ada County 911. If you can call 911 please do so. Otherwise, what is the address of your emergency?”

Dispatch can locate a person’s general location based on information from the nearest cell phone tower, according to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, but still requires people to tell dispatch where they are or the emergency’s location.

Dispatch also requires texters to tell them precisely what the situation is — robbery, fire, medical emergency, etc. — so they know what response needs to be sent to the situation.

The text messaging system is also incapable of receiving pictures or emojis, so all communication must be in the form of text.

“If you are driving down I-84 and see a four-car pileup, it doesn’t do us any good to text a picture,” Ada County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. “Emojis don’t show up, either. All texting to 911 needs to be in words.”

FCC guidelines

The Federal Communications Commission provides guidelines on how Text to 911 should be used, regardless of state or location:

  • If possible, always contact 911 by making a voice call.

  • If you are deaf, hard of hearing or speech disabled and Text to 911 is unavailable, use a TTY or telecommunications relay service.

  • If you text 911 and Text to 911 is unavailable in your area, you will receive a bounceback alert that “text is not available, please make a voice call to 911.”

  • Text messages to 911 may take longer or may not be received at all. If you do not receive a text response from 911, try to contact 911 in another way.

  • Location accuracy varies by carrier and should not be relied upon; always provide your exact location.

  • Text to 911 will not be available if the wireless carrier cannot determine the location of the device sending the message.

  • Text to 911 is not available if you are roaming.

  • A text or data plan is required to text 911.

  • Photos and videos cannot be received by 911.

  • Text messages should not contain abbreviations (such as ICYMI) or emojis; plain language only.

  • Texts must be in English. There is no language interpretation for text yet, but it is in development.

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