FCC Plan Would Allow 911 to Accept Texts, Photographs, Videos

America's first responders will soon be able to accept text messages, photos, and videos through emergency hotline 9-1-1.

On Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, a former emergency responder himself, announced five steps to rolling out the "Next Generation 911" (NG911).

"Our emergency response networks are doing a phenomenal job," he said in a speech delivered in Philadelphia on Wednesday. "Across our country, [they] receive over 650,000 9-1-1 calls per day–over 240 million per year—and respond to them with professionalism and commitment."

"But with new technology, we can do better. And we must do better to meet our collective mission and serve the public," he continued.

The FCC will accelerate steps taken to adopt NG911 this September, the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terorrist attacks.

Technically, the FCC said it had made several preparations, like in July when it required wireless carriers to meet more stringent metrics in tracking a user's mobile location. In June, the FCC also implemented an alert texting system with carriers that allowed the U.S. government to override other texts in the event of an emergency.

NG911 began to take shape last November, prompted by the Virginia Tech campus shootings in 2007.

"Some students and witnesses tried to text 9-1-1 during that emergency and as we know, those messages never went through and were never received by local 9-1-1 dispatchers," Genachowski said at the time.

However, in the comments section on that story, an emergency dispatcher warned of the logistical nightmare involved.

"Adding texting to this recipe would mean thousands of 'nEd hlp quick! Gas stition by the waiter.' What this does is creates a sense of urgency in the call center, as is should, but without the necessary means of obtaining the pertinent information—read: where and what. Instead, we get a 'first alert' so to speak, to start looking and wasting resources. Unless there is a way to couple geocoding with all sms messages sent to a 911 call center then I can't see this working the way lawmakers intend," he wrote.

Source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2390933,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05039TX1K0000762