9-1-1 Text Messaging Black Hawk County Consolidated Communications Center

Fox 61 Newsclip

The Need 31 Million deaf and hard of hearing in US Sometimes “calling” is not an option Use of text messaging skyrocketing

Challenges Existing system based on analog technology and not able to receive IP-based information, such as a text message More than 6000 public safety answering points (PSAPs) in the country – For text messaging to mirror existing system, a text message must be routed to the correct PSAP based on the “caller’s” location – And text exchange must then be displayed on the PSAP’s call taking terminal in real time Black Hawk, in collaboration with its technology partners addressed these issues

Why Black Hawk

The Test June 9 th, 2009 Live from the National Emergency Number Association Conference Test text message initiated from the main stage Automatically routed to Black Hawk based on location given

August 5, 2009 Go Live date Black Hawk is the first center in the nation able to receive a text message directly into Future enhancements will automatically route text to as appropriate

Lessons learned Importance of public/private partnership ???