Police looking at 911 calls via text for the hearing impaired

Hugo Avina holds a young child in a photo

As of last week, people who are part of the deaf, deafened, hard of hearing, or speech impaired community in Canada can now register their cell phones with their wireless service providers in preparation for texting with 9-1-1.

Texting with 9-1-1 is not available in the Chatham-Kent area and will only be available once network upgrades have been completed, said police spokesperson Renee Cowell.

The Chatham-Kent police, like other agencies in Ontario, are investigating the options available for providing texting services based on the 9-1-1 infrastructure to support this technology. TDD services remains Chatham-Kent police’s technology for communicating with a person that is deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or with a speech impairment. An announcement will be made when texting with 9-1-1 is available in our area, Cowell said.