Long term 911 technique 'may accept text and video messages'

The US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is considering updating the 911 emergency call process to accept photograph, text and video messages. bunbun car insurance quotes

Roughly 70% of 911 calls are already currently being made from mobile telephones, stated FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.

However the 911 process won't currently "support the communication equipment of tomorrow", he extra.

The FCC stated the Virginia Tech massacre was an incident when 911 multimedia know-how could are employed.

Thirty-two folks had been left dead just after a pupil opened fire on the Virginia Tech university campus in 2007.

"Some students and witnesses tried to text 911 throughout that emergency and as we all know, those messages under no circumstances went as a result of and had been under no circumstances obtained by regional 911 dispatchers," Mr Genachowski stated.

But those multimedia messages may perhaps quickly be answered because of broadband-enabled Upcoming Era 911, Mr Genachowski stated, in a speech at the Arlington County Emergency Middle in Virginia.

"Even though mobile phones are the machine of preference for most 911 callers, and we largely use our phones to text, immediately, you can't text 911. It's time to provide 911 into the digital age."
Complicated process

A process that might enable persons to report crimes without having currently being heard could also be used in situations ranging from kidnappings to robberies.

Mr Genachowski extra that texting is also a specifically helpful form of communication for persons who're deaf and other individuals that has a selection of disabilities.

But adjustments to the complicated 911 process can't take place overnight, nor without having a vote in the FCC.

The final huge alter to the emergency process by the FCC occurred in 2001, when the group required mobile mobile phone carriers to allow them to pinpoint a caller's geographic place each as a result of GPS and by triangulating a caller's place as a result of cellphone towers.

Established in 1968, the 911 emergency process handles over 230m calls per yr.