Adams County residents who can’t call 911 can now text for help from their cell phones.
The Adams County Communications Center, which covers Northglenn, Brighton and Commerce City, announced the new feature in a press release Monday. Denver residents have been able to text 911 for two years.
But just because you can text 911 doesn’t mean you should.
Texts to 911 should only be used when it’s not possible to make a phone call, according to the communications center. Some examples of when to text are when a person is hearing impaired, when a cell phone doesn’t have enough battery to make a call or when it’s not safe to talk on the phone.
“Voice calls to 911 continue to be the most efficient way to reach emergency help,” according to the release. “During voice calls the dispatcher is able to quickly ask questions and obtain information from the caller, while two-way communications by text can take more time.”
One important thing to know about texting 911 is, unlike phone calls, text messages don’t send a location to the dispatcher. It’s critical that a text to 911 include an address or location.
Another thing to know about texting 911 is cell phones need to have a service plan that includes texting. You can make a voice call to 911 with a phone that doesn’t have a service plan, but it doesn’t work that way for texting.
