Law enforcement could be just a text message away

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By Trang Do - Bio | Email

MADISON, AL (WAFF) -Texting friends when you need them is nothing new, but in two Alabama counties, you may soon be able to text police to get help.

Emergency 911 centers in Shelby and Baldwin counties will be able to receive text messages, pictures and videos from citizens.

The technology is not coming to North Alabama just yet, but the company responsible for it is based here.

Who would've ever thought you could send a text to get in touch with law enforcement when you're in need?

"If there was a bank robbery occurring, and you were parked right outside the bank, and someone dashed away, you could grab a picture of the robber on your cell phone," said Chandler Hall of Emergency Callworx.

You can then send that photo to a 911 call center.

"They're able to basically embrace and receive not just voice phone calls, but can now take all of those data type communications as well," Hall said.

That technology, called Next Generation E911, is on its way to several nearby counties: Shelby and Baldwin in Alabama, Lewis and Moore in Tennessee and Brantley in Georgia.

Emergency Callworx is based in Madison. It's a start-up company with just 14 employees that officially launched a year ago.

The company is now working with five emergency call centers to implement and install the new technology, which could take about a year.

"While the system itself is instantly available to handle that, there's a lot of piping, if you would, in between the end person at the house and the dispatch center," Hall said.

The new system will also be equipped with technology that will automatically re-route calls to another center in the event that a call center is severely damaged.

The Huntsville-Madison County 9-1-1 center is the largest in Alabama. Director Ernie Blair said he'll be looking to upgrade their system within the next year, and he'll be looking into this type of technology when the time comes.

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