911 Texting Coming to a Phone Near You

There will be a new way to contact 911 authorities coming as early as next May, but it will not necessarily be a faster or better method, reports KIMA-tv.

Texting from your cell phone will be possible, but despite advantages of not being audible in emergency situations, being discreet and also allowing some who may not be able to talk, KIMA-tv says there are disadvantages of needing to send several texts back and forth or like Wayne Wantland, Yakima County Communications and Technology Manager mentions of having an actual voice.

"We get to hear the background,” said Wayne. “We get to hear the tone of voice of the person calling to see how much excitement and that is all indicators to us of the situation that's going on.

KIMA-tv explains that the texting will work the same way as phone calls by the cell tower identifying your network and it then routing to your county.

According to KIMA-tv, texting to 911 will still take some time and Yakima County's 911 center will need to make more modifications once the cell phone companies have their system going.