Thanks to some new upgrades, the only thing standing between Cass County residents in danger and first responders ready to help are a few taps on their cellphone.

Last week, leaders with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office announced that the county dispatch center had activated its new Text to 911 service to all residents. The service allows people to use their mobile devices to send text messages to 911, which will allow them to exchange messages back and forth with a dispatcher for help. People just need to open their text/SMS application on their phone, type “911” in the “To” field and then type in their message.

The message should take around a second to appear on the screen of a dispatcher at the local 911 dispatch center in Cassopolis, said Cass County Sheriff Richard Behnke. The dispatcher will then respond to the message and send out police, fire or emergency medical personnel to the sender’s location.

“People should still try to call 911 whenever possible, as that is an easier way to exchange info with dispatchers,” Behnke said. “However, there are times when the person contacting 911 is in a situation where they cannot easily talk, or cannot physically talk.”

For example, a person in a domestic violence situation may be more easily be able to send a text to police than call, which may cause their abuser to overhear the victim and inflict more harm to them. Also, people suffering a stroke, who may not be able to easily talk, can instead use text messages to
send for help.

The Text to 911 service is made possible by the $120,000 worth of equipment upgrades the sheriff’s office made to the dispatch center in the spring, Behnke said. The new computers replaced those that had been in service since 1999, and brought several possible new functions — including Text to 911 — to the table.

Before activating the service, Behnke reached out to the various cellular service providers, such as Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, to ensure they would work. Over the past several months, the sheriff’s office has worked with the telecom companies to ensure the service worked throughout the entire area.

The upgrade is the second major feature the county has rolled out since the new equipment came online this year. Earlier this year, the county also began using Smart 911, a service that provides dispatchers with additional information about people who call for help. Around 400 people have signed up for the service so far, Behnke said. Those who have signed up for Smart 911 and use Text to 911 will have their information appear before dispatchers, just like if they called, the sheriff said.

“It’s all about saving seconds when responding to emergencies,” he said. “In many cases, those few extra seconds are what can save lives, and this technology helps us accomplish that.”

The sheriff’s office is eyeing other potential upgrades to its 911 dispatch system in the future, including allowing people to send images to dispatchers via text message.