Poll: Are there any disadvantages to Text-to-911 service?

All I really can see in the future with such idea is people suing the police department for not acting or not acting fast enough. Not only that but trying to track your signal incase you are not able to continue the text in order to give more information so a police officer can get there ASAP. In the USA it's all about suing. This country it's great for many things but not everything.

This is a repeat of the same discussion in another forum. There are many reasons for wanting to text 911, but the largest overall will be to remain unseen and quiet, sometimes totally in hiding. In such a panic situation, you may get the text out, but not remember that you need to SET YOUR PHONE SOUNDS TO QUIET. As explained, 911 dispatch will want to reply to you and get further info, so they will be sending texts in return. Your phone will be sounding the text notification alert (sound or vibration for most users), and this may actually put you in immediate danger.

I don't know what the answer is, because it was mentioned that in some cases the notification sounds would be necessary to get further information from someone. It seems like an interlock is needed in the phone software, so that when the initial 911 text is entered, the user is prompted to select "Silent" or "Alert Sounds" and the phone settings will then adjust before sending the text. .

... before this will be the preferred way to contact 911.

But you've got to start somewhere. And nobody suggested that you can't just call them anymore like you used to.

One thing that might help is an option to automatically send location information that the provider would add.

Texting or calling back may be an option in some but not all cases.

Going forward I could see a feature on smart phones that allow for pre-formulated texts to be sent with a minimum number of keystrokes - say, for a medical emergency at home or at phone location. Or, say, a road accident message that can be modified with no. of injured, fire yes/no and similar information.

With a bit of development this can become quite powerful.

And never forget: For many people that can't speak or hear this may be a life saving accessibility feature.

I think there is a app for that.