Text-To-911 Now Available To Denver

By Andrea Flores

DENVER (CBS4)- Denver's new 911NOW is a three-part system to help save time and lives and give people the option on how they want to call for help.

Smart 911 allows people to create a safety profile that gives emergency responders important information, like family medical history, vehicle descriptions, pets that may be in the home, and addresses.

While Swift 911, a high-speed notification system, sends alerts, such as evacuations and severe weather warnings, in real time.

"Residents decide how they want to receive these alerts," said Denver 911 Director Athena Butler.

Home phone, mobile phone, email, text message, or a combination of each can be used to receive alerts.

Denver dispatcher Ty Schade says Text-to-911 allows users to report an emergency when calling simply isn't an option.

"We would try to ask the most important questions first just in case for some reason they just stop texting altogether," said Schade. "At least we got the parts that officers really want to know about first."

Jefferson County went live with Text-to-911 last May.

Vicki Pickett, Communication Center Manager for Arvada Police, says they've only received 80 emergency texts since then.

"One of the things that has been pretty clear is that the location information is not great," Pickett said. "We're having a lot of challenges locating people associated with their text."

Despite its setbacks, Pickett says she'd rather people text than get no report at all.

"We've had a few examples of situations where either they were hearing impaired, or they had an intruder in their home, or a domestic situation where they wouldn't have been comfortable speaking on the phone," said Pickett. "I consider even one text like that a success."

LINKS:

Denver Department of Public Safety 911NOW campaign

Find out if Text-to-911 works in your area.

Andrea Flores is a reporter for CBS4. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter @AndreaFloresTV.