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Kingsport Police Department
Dale Phipps, Chief of Police 200 Shelby Street • Kingsport, TN 37660 http://KingsportTN.gov/City-Services/Police-Department • www.KingsportPDBlog.com |
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NEWS RELEASE | |||
SUBJECT: | Text to 911 Now an Option in Kingsport (Update #2) | ||
DATE: | March 30, 2021 | ||
GENERAL NARRATIVE | |||
Update #2: A third mobile carrier has enabled the Text to 911 service for its customers. Effective immediately, T-Mobile customers in the Kingsport Emergency Communications District will have the capability to Text to 911. All three major cellular telephone carriers in this area, to include Verizon, AT&T Wireless, and T-Mobile, have now enabled this service for their customers.
As previously released: Update: Effective immediately, Text to 911 is now available for both Verizon and AT&T Wireless customers in the Kingsport 911 Emergency Communications District. Other area cell phone carriers are expected to enable this service for their customers in the near future. As previously released: Effective immediately, some cellular telephone customers in the Kingsport 911 Emergency Communications District will be able to Text to 911. It is important to note that for the time being, this capability only exists for AT&T Wireless customers; however, other area cell phone carriers, such as Verizon and T-Mobile, are expected to enable this service for their customers in the near future. While Text to 911 is now a possibility, we would like to strongly emphasize that calling should always be the preferred method for contacting 911. That’s why we are adopting the slogan, “911: Call if you can. Text if you can’t.” Just as when calling 911, texting 911 should only be done in the event of an actual emergency. Non-emergency calls to Kingsport Central Dispatch still need to be made to 423-246-9111, and that number is not able to receive text messages. Text to 911 is especially beneficial to those who are hearing- or speech-impaired, but citizens should only text 911 when calling 911 is unsafe or not possible. Examples include when:
If you send a text message to 911, you should always try to include the following information: 1) Your name 2) Your location (specific address, intersection, or mile-marker) 3) The particular type of emergency you are experiencing (medical, fire, crime in progress, etc.) 4) Your telephone number (just in case the Caller ID feature were to fail to provide it) Don’t just send your initial text to 911 and then put your phone down and forget it! Texting 911 will be a two-way interactive conversation. You should be prepared to receive and respond to follow-up text messages from a Communications Specialist so that they can obtain any additional necessary information to enable them to provide the appropriate response to your emergency. Text to 911 may not always work due to a variety of factors beyond our control. If you send a text message to 911 and your carrier has not enabled this service, or if your text is inadvertently received by a neighboring dispatch center that is not set up for this service, you will receive a “bounce-back message” to instruct you to call 911 by voice instead. Try to have a back-up plan to allow you to call 911 if your message isn’t received. If you send a text to 911 and get no response whatsoever, you should assume that your text did not go through and find a way to make a voice call to 911 immediately. A few additional extremely important factors include:
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RELEASING OFFICER | ||
Thomas M. Patton, Public Information Officer
Kingsport Police Department Professional Standards Unit 423-229-9433 (Desk) • 423-343-9749 (FAX) ThomasMPatton |