By Debbie Houston | Recently I read of an organization called Crisis Text Line (CTL) that responds to people contemplating suicide. The person-at-risk texts the number 741741 and, within seconds, a counselor offers support and asks key questions, like: “Are you alone?” “Do you have the bottle of pills near you?”
The counselor then dials a 911 rescue responder while continuing to text back and forth with the suicidal person.
The advantage of CTL over a phone crisis hotline is that texting is more immediate. Also, no one in the house can overhear the conversation in a text, and it fits in perfectly with our device-oriented society.
So, it made me think … why couldn’t local police offer us 911-texting instead of our dialing the phone? Again, texting is more immediate, and if it’s a home invasion, we don’t want the intruder to overhear us.
I e-mailed the Gwinnett County Police Department to see if it plans to implement 911-texting. Lt. Lorene Peugh, acting communications manager, writes: “Presently, Gwinnett does not have the ability to handle text messages. We are, however, investigating several possibilities that would include that capability when we upgrade our systems. We do not have an estimated implementation date, if we are able to acquire it, as of yet.”
I’ve read that LAN phones are traceable, but what about cell phones? If a crime victim dials a cell and remains quiet, can the police track that person’s location?
Lt. Peugh says: “If someone calls from a cell and keeps the line open, we use what is called Phase 2 Location. This is where we use the X/Y coordinates to attempt to locate the phone.” Lt. Peugh emphasizes that this is not an exact science. “The key is we have to have an open line. If the line is disconnected, we won’t be able to get coordinates to put into the mapping system.”
Some counties (Paulding is one) have already implemented 911-texting. Criminals are increasingly tech-savvy, so it could pay for our local police to stay apace with modern ways to protect us. What do you think?
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