E911 Communications

Cherokee County 911 has introduced text to 911 services in all communities within the county. This new service allows residents to text dispatch during an emergency. Text to 911 is supported by all four 911 dispatch centers in the county, which connect callers to public safety response agencies, including police, fire, emergency medical services and other rescue teams.

Text to 911 service is enabled on the four major cell phone carriers in our area: AT&T (Cricket), Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. If your carrier does not support 911 texting, or if you are in a location that cannot send/receive text messages, you will receive a bounce back message. Regular text message rates will apply with this service.

Using the text to 911 service is only recommended if it is the only option and making a voice call to 911 is not possible. Remember to Call If You Can, Text If You Must. Some situations where this would be appropriate include:

• A caller reporting an emergency is hard of hearing, deaf or speech-impaired
• Voice connectivity is unavailable, but texts can be sent – this is true in some mountain areas
• Situations when silence is of the utmost importance for your safety – instances of intrusion, abuse or other dangerous situations in which making a phone call would escalate the emergency

If you need to send a text, it should be simple, brief and concise and should not use abbreviations or emojis.