New Yorkers can now text 911 after the city quietly launched the new service Tuesday after years of delays.
“New Yorkers should always call 911 if they can, and text 911 only if they can’t,” city spokeswoman Laura Feyer said. “Text-to-911 is making emergency services more accessible to vulnerable New Yorkers who aren’t able to call 911 during an emergency.”
Texting 911 is free and works through short message service — or SMS — with cellular carriers and requires a text or data plan. New Yorkers can text 911 in English or Spanish.
“Text to 911 is a crucial service that will help the Deaf, hard of hearing, and survivors of domestic violence quickly receive emergency assistance,” said city tech commissioner Jessica Tisch.
The city said texts should be sent to the number 911 without spaces or hyphens. Texts should include whether you are deaf and the reason for the emergency.
Texts should also include full address and cross streets, as well as borough, the city advised.
“Use complete words and sentences, not abbreviations,” the city said. “Don’t text 911 in a group chat or send photos, videos, GIFs, or emojis. Answer all of the operator’s questions. The operator will end the chat.”
Advocates for the deaf, victims of domestic violence and other New Yorkers who are unable to make emergency voice calls have long pushed for text-to-911, which was originally supposed to launch in early 2018.
While the city finished building the infrastructure of the service in 2018 and the NYPD trained more than 1,200 technicians, officials said the roll-out was delayed because of integration issues and for cybersecurity testing.
VESTA Solutions, part of Motorola, is creating the texting system. The contract began at $28.31 million but has grown to $41.58 million.
Latest coronavirus updates: Click here for our roundup of the most important developments from NYC and around the world.