Next-generation 911 system will accept text messages, photos

Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski announced a series of updates to the emergency call service 911 on Tuesday that will allow dispatchers to receive text messages, pictures, video and automated calls.

Speaking at a public safety event in Arlington, Va., Genachowski said the FCC will take up the issue at the December open meeting, where they will likely vote to replace the existing 911 infrastructure with a broadband-enabled emergency dispatch system.

"Broadband-enabled, Next-Generation 911 will revolutionize emergency response by providing increased means of communications — including texting, data, video and photo — which will improve situational awareness and rapid response," Genachowski said after calling the current 911 system, which handles more than 650,000 calls daily, "efficient and reliable."

"But today’s 911 system doesn’t support the communication tools of tomorrow. Many 911 call centers don’t even have broadband, and some are in communities where broadband isn’t even available. That is unacceptable," he added.

Genachowski said 450,000 of the calls received by dispatchers every day come from mobile phones, which are increasingly used to text and send pictures. By updating the system, callers would be able to send pictures of crime scenes or accidents to dispatchers; additionally deaf persons would be able to communicate by sending text messages.

"The Virginia Tech campus shootings in 2007 are a tragic, real-life reminder of the technological limitations that 911 is now saddled with," Genachowski said. "Some students and witnesses tried to text 911 during that emergency and as we know, those messages never went through and were never received by local 911 dispatchers."