Kershaw County, SC Taps Motorola for Text-to-911

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Kershaw County, South Carolina has awarded a contract to Motorola Solutions for their text-to-911 offering. Text-to-911 is gaining traction with local emergency response agencies as a means of reporting emergency activity when voice calling is not available. Still, the solution overall is fairly new only 4 percent of 911 dispatch centers are equipped to handle text-to-911.

Kershaw County will be the first county in South Carolina to implement a solution of this type. Motorola has partnered with Intrado to provide the service which also includes capabilities for the hard of hearing, speech impaired and Deaf communities.

“The implementation of Motorola Solutions’ text-to-911 application was by far the most seamless project I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of during the 36 years I’ve been in public safety,” said Kirk Stropes, deputy director, E-911 Communications, Kershaw County.

Other providers have also recently released new offerings to upgrade 911 capabilities. General Dynamics offers a NENA i3 compliant call system, and Airbus DS Communications has a radio solution in use in Florida. LexisNexis has recently made a series of acquisitions aimed at building a public safety platform offering with solutions for police officers in the field.