Sheboygan County Launches Text to 911 Feature

On February 14, the Sheboygan County Emergency Dispatch Center activated the Text to 911 feature which was purchased as part of the radio system upgrade and combined dispatch project.

To activate this feature, Sheboygan County worked with all the major cell carriers in our area to make this feature available to their customers. Each carrier tested the feature with our Emergency Dispatch Center and all are fully functional. The following carriers are now enabled: Sprint, Cellcom, AT&T, US Cellular, Verizon, and TMobile.

This feature allows people with speech or hearing disabilities to initiate 911. In addition, it gives victims or witnesses an important option if they need to remain unnoticed for their own safety in situations such as a robbery or domestic abuse.

To use this feature, the caller goes to a blank text message screen, enters  911 in the recipient or "to:" line, types a message describing the emergency and if possible, the location. An emergency dispatcher will acknowledge the 911 Text with a text message that may include questions about location and the nature of the emergency.

We ask that cell phone users do not test the feature on their phone as it creates unnecessary calls in our dispatch center. The feature has been thoroughly tested with each cell provider.