Smart911 coming to Dallas County residents
Published 8:11 pm Wednesday, April 24, 2013
In a crisis situation, residents will soon be able to quickly provide more than just their name and address as the Dallas County E-911 Board voted unanimously to implement Smart911 for all Dallas County residents.
Smart911, a free service, allows residents to create a profile that will automatically be sent to operators upon dialing 911. To sign up for the service, residents can simply log on to www.Smart911.com and submit their phone number and create a profile.
Tracy Williams, communications director for E-911, said residents can provide as much information as they would like in their profile.
“Any information that you think would help the dispatcher assist you, you can add,” Williams said, adding that health and medical information and any allergies are common profile additions.
Williams said by creating a profile on Smart911, dispatchers will be able to assist the caller more quickly, because they won’t have to ask routine questions.
“It’s information that we would normally have to ask and then if someone is sick or injured, it’s hard to get that information from them — but with this, it’s automatically there,” he said.
The program works for all phones, including home phone numbers and cell phone numbers. And although the service will not be available until early June, Williams said residents can create a profile right now and it will be automatically activated once the service goes live.
Rhonda Abbott, EMA director, also encouraged residents to take advantage of this new service, as it will only help them in a crisis situation.
“This is a great program and we’re excited to launch it in Dallas County,” Abbott said. “We encourage everyone to make a profile and make use of it.”