CRAVEN COUNTY -- Text to 911 is the newest option to contact emergency services during a serious situation.
"It allows them to send a text message instead of making a voice call," said Kito Romans, civilian unit supervisor. "So from there, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, they all did the associated upgrades and gave us the technological capability to accept the text messages through the 911 system."
The New Bern Police Department went live with new program this month and it's been in use for about a year for the Morehead City Police Department.
"We have taken one wreck call through a text to 911. The system worked fine. It's bit of a delayed process...it's not as fast obviously as voice call, but it did work fine," said Rodney Cates, communications manager for Carteret Emergency Communications.
"They can be a bit more discreet. They can go ahead and text 911 with their location and script of information and keep a low profile," said Romans.
"There are also many domestic type or assault type situations where a person cannot make a voice call. They may be locked in a closet, locked in a classroom where it's not safe for them to reveal their location through their voice," said Cates.
It's great for the deaf and hard of hearing population and people need to be mindful when using it.
"I want to stress the importance of that this is to be used in the same fashion as our land line 911. It's not to be abused. We prefer our citizens if at all possible to use the phone," said Chief Toussaint Summers, Jr., New Bern Police Department.