Politics & Government

Texting 911: Not in Fairfax County

Trials in other Washington area jurisdictions have residents asking: Why doesn't Fairfax County have text-911 service?

Fairfax County plans to eventually give its residents the ability to text 9-1-1 in emergencies, but it likely won’t be any time soon.

In March, Frederick County, Md., launched a pilot program allowing Verizon Wireless customers to text 911 in an emergency. And recent media coverage has Fairfax County residents asking whether the same service will be available to them.

During an online chat Monday, county officials said they planned to wait to start any sort of trial program until the service was available on more providers than just Verizon.

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“Texting to 9-1-1 is one of several new means to contact 9-1-1 that will utilize smart devices (smart phones, tablets, etc.) to communicate,” said Stephen Souder, director of the county’s department of public safety communications. “Fairfax County is looking forward to providing text to 9-1-1 in the future and after the ability to do so is not limited to just one carrier.”

When asked why the county didn’t at least want to participate in trial, Souder said many trials had been implemented at smaller 911 call centers, where only one specific person could answer text messages. The sheer size of Fairfax County’s center – one of the 10 largest in the nation – meant that officials should wait until the technology allows for widespread use across the county, he said.

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“It is important that when Fairfax County accepts text 9-1-1 calls that we can do so from any cell phone service and answer the text call at any call taker work station,” Souder said.

Fairfax County supervisors said during their meeting Tuesday they've received multiple emails from residents inquiring about the service, but the county would will need to wait, for now, to test it out.

“Before we get too much invested into text-911, which people seem to want to do, there are restrictions right now just because of the technology,” said Supervisor Penny Gross (D-Mason).

Click here for more information on texting 911.

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