Text To 911 Capability Coming To Garvin County

Garvin County’s 911 center is getting a big system upgrade.

As soon as it’s installed, it will help dispatchers with mapping emergencies. “It’s going to map faster and it’s going to map more accurately,” said Coordinator Steven Bratcher.

If someone calls in only knowing the nickname of the county road they’re on, the new system will have the location geo-tagged. The upgrade will also mean the system is compliant with "Next Generation 911"-- a nationwide program making call centers more tech-savvy.

One of its features will allow citizens to text dispatchers for help. Garvin County hopes to roll that out in a few months.

“If you’re in a situation where someone is in your house and you don’t want to make noise, you can text to 911,” Bratcher told News 9.

The new system, made up of a few computers, will replace massive machines and create all kinds of possibilities for the future.

Sheriff Larry Rhodes said he is very proud of the 911 center. “They are doing our county a good service,” he added. “As you can see for a rural 911 center, we are state of the art and keeping up with the future in emergency communication.”

Oklahoma City, Edmond and Norman are also working toward implementing a text to 911 feature.