Picture the scene: You're in your bedroom closet hiding from a serial killer. He's in the room sniffing around, with a huge carving knife, it's like a horror film. What do you do? If you call the police he's going to hear you speak. Calling is just too noisy. Well if it happens now you're dead I'm afraid. But in the near future you may be able to text 911
This isn't a joke. The U.S are planning to bring the emergency services into the 21st Century. The FCC is looking at letting citizens report crimes through text messages or even allowing them to stream videos from their mobile phones to emergency centres.
911 handles more than 230 million calls a year — 70 percent of which now come from mobile phones. The last real change to 911 by the FCC came in 2001, when mobile carriers were required to allow 911 to identify the location of callers either through GPS or cell-tower data.
“The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences. During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received. If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding” said the FCC in a statement.
There are also plans to allow automated pinging of 911 by sensors, including chemical detection sensors, alarm systems and medical devices.
There's no specifics yet, like when or where the changes will take place and who is going to pay for them but it's about time we started integrating newer technology in old systems.
Source: CNN