New Technology Lets Muskogee 911 Center Communicate By Text

Oklahoma 911 centers are getting ready for some new technology used for emergencies, and Muskogee's dispatch center will be one of the first to try it out.

It’s called Next Generation 911, and it will allow people to send text messages to dispatchers.

Muskogee County's 911 Center picks up every emergency phone call made in the county. The operators are responsible for dispatching for more than 30 fire, police and EMS agencies.

When you call 911, the latest technology can pinpoint you on a map. Now, a new service will give callers and dispatchers another way to reach 911.

"Now we're a society that carries cell phones and people are communicating off of their cell phones by text messages," said Muskogee County 911 director, Darryl Maggard.

Through a dispatch center console, the operator will be able to communicate with someone texting them.

This technology has come a long way and so has the Muskogee County 911 Center.

A couple of years ago, Muskogee 911 didn't exist - five separate agencies handled emergency phone calls with 1970’s technology.

Maggard said, "What we do is communications, and we need to be plugged in to help people who are communicating,"

The 911 director said the first means of communications should always be over the phone because it gets information quicker to dispatchers.

The Next Generation 911 technology will be available in Muskogee County before the end of the year.